Claire van der Boom as Carla Smith in The Square, hitting Toronto theatres on Friday.

Start with adultery, add a bit of theft, toss in some arson and stand back — now you’ve got a crime wave with a life of its own. The Square is an Australian thriller that will take you on a tour of death and destruction, all of it the result of a single criminal act.

The Square stars David Roberts as Ray, a successful building site supervisor who is not above accepting the odd kick-back here and there. Ray is married, but he’s having an affair with Carla (Claire van der Boom), and they meet in isolated spots whenever they can.

Carla isn’t really single either, and one day she discovers that her creepy criminal boyfriend Smithy (Anthony Hayes) has hidden a bag of money at their house. No doubt it’s the proceeds of one crime or another, but the point is, it’s a lot of money.

In fact, it’s enough money to let Carla and Ray run away together. She just has to convince Ray that stealing it from Smithy is the way to go. And Ray just has to figure out how to hide their theft from Smithy and everyone else. He comes up with a plan — and it’s so simple!

Alas, it’s not so simple.

The Square moves from complication to complication in a fashion that ratchets up the tension to an almost unbearable level. As crime begets crime in this noirish thriller, the body count begins to rise — as do dread, fear and loathing. The story is flawed, but that doesn’t make the movie any less gripping. So much hinges on a simple twist of fate: A family squabble, a forgotten cellphone, a little white lie, an unexpected Christmas card. The Square is put together out of fairly mundane domestic detail, but those details add up to murder and mayhem.

For North American audiences, the big plus in a movie like The Square is that the Australian cast (with the exception of a cameo from Bill Hunter) is relatively unknown here. There’s nothing in the way of star power standing between a viewer and the willing suspension of disbelief — and that’s a rare treat. David Roberts makes the character of Ray a calm, determined everyman gone wrong; you watch Ray continue to wade further and further into shark-infested waters with a growing sense of dismay.

The Square is writer/actor/producer/stuntman Nash Edgerton’s debut feature film. The original story upon which the movie is based comes from Edgerton’s writer/actor brother Joel, who also co-wrote the screenplay and who appears in a key criminal role in the film. The Square has already won several movie awards, and it will be interesting — and exciting — to see what the Edgerton brothers come up with next.

(This film is rated 14A)

liz.braun@sunmedia.ca
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