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Boasting dazzling performances from its untrained cast, Ruben Östlund’s insightful feature sees five African immigrants employing Michael Hanekeworthy mind games to shake down three wellheeled kids (two white, one Asian) in a Gothenburg shopping mall. Courtesy of long takes (that offer viewers little reprieve from the mounting tension), we watch as Yannick and his teenaged friends corner their younger marks and proceed to mess with their heads for the entirety of an afternoon. As the hours drift by, the victims willingly hand over their possessions without a threat ever having been uttered. Furthermore, they never once make a run for it, despite the fact they’re not being restrained. Viewers will find themselves similarly incapable of averting their eyes from this wholly persuasive depiction of intimidation. Inspired by actual events documented by Swedish police, Östlund lends his confrontational material a thoughtfulness that elevates it above mere button-pushing. Most disturbingly, this cerebral filmmaker convincingly intimates that the aggressors and their targets are equally responsible for perpetuating the sick game they’re embroiled in. “As you watch Östlund’s victims follow their hypnotiser on a long and unpredictable trip, this compelling, uneasy drama becomes an acute study of power, language, ritual and racial identity… a provocative work…"

Jonathan Romney, Sight and Sound