‘THE STAR’

PG 1:26 Not screened for critics

A small but brave donkey and his animal friends become the unsung heroes of the first Christmas.

Starring: Steven Yeun, Kristin Chenoweth and Zachary Levi. (Some thematic elements)

— IMDB.com an alternately amusing and alarming rabbit hole of revenge and unintended consequences; simultaneously a new installation called “The Square” — intended to question the “rights and obligations” of citizens occupying the same political and philosophical space — is creating problems of its own.

Taken individually, the scenes that “The Square” comprises are often marvelous to behold: The film begins with a funny interview between Christian and American journalist Anne (Elisabeth Moss) in which she confronts him on the arcane gobbledygook in one of his programs; later, Ostlund stages a crowded street scene with Tharpian shrewdness and grace.

Another scene with Anne, during which she encounters Christian in front of a teetering installation of stacked desks, echoes uncannily with current debates regarding sex and power within the art world and beyond, just as the film’s most controversial sequence, featuring “Planet of the Apes” actor Terry Notary disrupting a black-tie dinner, confronts viewers with a meditation on men behaving badly and the bystander effect at their most primitive and elemental. (And yes, that’s a very on-point Dominic West channeling Julian Schnabel as a pajama-clad visiting artist.)

There are bluntly absurdist touches and non sequiturs throughout “The Square” as well, and Ostlund flouts typical narrative structure, introducing crucial information about Christian more than halfway through the film. It’s all funny — mostly — and Bang delivers a thoroughly convincing performance as a man embodying the most attenuated aspects of a social contract that has become fatally frayed (there are moments, especially when Christian is taken aback at some unexpected challenge or slight, when he resembles a modern-day James Mason).

Eventually, though, “The Square” feels fatally superficial, its provocations landing like pulled punches. When an acapella rendition of “Ave Maria” plays for the umpteenth time, it’s clear that Ostlund doesn’t have much new to say about trust, isolation, elitism and tribal paranoia, he’s just found compelling images through which to say it.

For all its stylishness and sophistication, “The Square” never adds up to more than its very attractive parts.

Starring: Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss and Dominic West. (Coarse language, some strong sexuality and brief violence)

— Ann Hornaday, Washington Post usually wears an astronaut helmet when he leaves the house. But after years of being home-schooled by his mother (Julia Roberts), he’s preparing to join his peers at New York’s Beecher Prep.

“Dear God, please make them be nice to him,” Auggie’s mom says to his dad (Owen Wilson) as they watch him walk into school for the first time.

In the wrong hands, “Wonder” could be a maudlin slog, filled with platitudes about treating others the way you want to be treated. But noted childwhisperer Stephen Chbosky (“The Perks of Being a Wallflower”) directed the drama, mostly avoiding treacle with a script he co-adapted from R.J. Palacio’s beloved best-selling children’s novel.

The result is not all anguish and bullying. “Wonder” is complex, funny and — of course — a real cry-fest that looks at the very real burdens of being a kid.

Like the novel, the movie isn’t just the Auggie show. It’s told from different perspectives. His sister Via (Izabela Vidovic) provides her equally shattering story of living in a house where she was mostly overlooked by a mother and father busy taking care of a sick child. “August is the sun,” she says of her brother in voice-over — everyone revolves around him. Her story is all the more touching because of her love for him; she isn’t bitter so much as desperately lonely.

Auggie’s friend Jack (Noah Jupe) gets his own story, too, showing a sweet boy who nevertheless hesitated to get close to the new kid who looked different. Via’s estranged best friend (Danielle Rose Russell), meanwhile, comes off as a bit of a villain until we see the world through her troubled eyes. The message can be a little heavy-handed but no less worthy: You never know what someone else is going through.

Even though Auggie and Via’s parents don’t get their own dedicated narratives, their agony and fear is in the background. Auggie’s mother makes a particularly interesting character as a woman who gave up her dreams of a Ph.D. to care for her son and now feels both thrilled and guilty about getting her own life back.

Meanwhile, although Auggie aces every pop quiz, he struggles socially at school, where one toxic Eddie Haskell-type (Bryce Gheisar) mercilessly teases him whenever adults are out of earshot. Predictably, after a few snags, Auggie makes some meaningful connections.

Despite the difficult themes, Chbosky maintains a light touch. There are surreal moments, including the recurring image of Chewbacca as one of Auggie’s equally eye-catching classmates. When Jack asks Auggie whether he’s ever contemplated plastic surgery, Auggie responds, “Dude, this is after plastic surgery. It takes a lot of work to look this good.”

“Wonder” does occasionally suffer from kid-movie pitfalls, straining to be cute or mining humor from ridiculously precocious little ones. But mostly it succeeds in telling not one complicated story, but many, and giving the experience of being a confused or lonely or scared youngster the space it deserves.

Starring: Jacob Tremblay, Owen Wilson and Izabela Vidovic. (Mature thematic elements, including bullying and some mildly coarse language)

— Stephanie Merry,

Washington Post