Triangle of Sadness

First of all, there is no earthly reason this movie needs to be 2 hours and 27 minutes. None. 147 minutes of beating home with sledgehammer efficiency, the prevalence of socio-economic injustice, the perverse obsession with the superficial over the substantial, and gender inequity. The exposing and mocking of which, I am 100% supportive! But the execution is so lazy and repetitive that, even though the core message is admirable, this can hardly be considered enjoyable, much less enlightening.

Now, I love a slow burn. I like long films. And I definitely like films that have something to say. But in all honesty, this film could have been cut by 1/3rd and spared the audience a lot of pain. Every scene is too long, starting from the very first one. There certainly is a message of gender-reversed exploitation to be made, but how long does it really need to take? And the awkwardness of Carl and Yaya's evening is excruciatingly drawn out, exacerbated by the dull and fractional dialogue (though this could be mitigated by the characters being dull and fractional themselves). Even the aftermath of the Captain's Dinner is gratuitously long and boring (I won't even bring in 'disgusting', because that frankly isn't even the issue.) It must be meant for an audience unfamiliar with subtlety in film, but there's no way that target audience has the attention span for such a drawn out film.

Only the 3rd chapter (which deep down somewhere, I knew *had* to be coming, though I'd hoped credits would role at the end of Chapter 2) was even remotely interesting. Two hours of laborious setup to reveal what we already knew in the first place, and had been very obviously foreshadowed from the first moments on the yacht. Take a bit of The Menu and add some Lord of the Flies, but the total is less than the sum of its parts.

The winner of the 2022 Cannes Film Festival's coveted Palme d'Or prize, Ruben Östlund's Oscar nominated latest slice of melancholy and home truths about the human condition is going to be a divisive exercise for audiences as the Swedish director examines the divide between the haves and the have nots in an epic darkly comedic operation that will likely ensure it's sometime between trips to your local seafood market.

Flirting the line between dramatic beats and Monty Python like physical comedy and outlandish situations, Östlund's Triangle of Sadness is broken up into multiple chapters, with the central figures to the story being Harris Dickinson's down on his luck model Carl and his influencer girlfriend Yaya (played by the late Charlbi Dean who sadly passed away not long after the films release) as the two find themselves aboard a luxury yacht captained by Woody Harrelson's unpredictable literature loving overseer who is going to provide the cruise's guests with numerous unforgettable memories.

In no hurry across its questionably extensive two and half hour runtime, many will not be able to predict where Sadness is going as it slowly and surely wanders along its narrative that around the midway point provides viewers with some of the most unexpected and eye-popping cinematic moments of recent memories as Östlund's razor sharp social commentary takes hold and the journey of Carl, Yaya and the cruise's many guests and staff crash headfirst in an explosive way, leading to various revelations and contemplation's for the films colourful characters.

Headlined well by rising star Dickinson and the taken too soon Dean, who you sense was destined for big things following this effort, Sadness finds some fantastic moments courtesy of Östlund's award worthy screenplay and some fantastic turns from the likes of Dolly De Leon as softly spoken ship handmaid Abigail, Zlatko Buric as Russian millionaire Dimitry (stealing the films best scene courtesy of a P. A system) and the always enjoyable Harrelson, who as per usual makes the most of any screen time he has given as a man who appears to have had enough of playing along with mandatory niceties.

With so much to enjoy and unpack across Sadness's extensive runtime, there is a strong sense that Östlund's feature runs out of steam in the latter stages and while it's best that viewers head into Sadness as blind as possible, once the films last chapter takes hold there are less wins for the narrative as we begin to look forward to a neat wrap up that comes in the form of one of the more abrupt endings of 2022, one that is likely to cause significant debate amongst the film community, much like the film as a whole that some will adore and others loathe.

Final Say -

Providing us with some of the more memorable genuinely hilarious moments of any film from the last 12 months, Triangle of Sadness is a unique feature film from one of the most individual voices in world cinema and while the film does run out of steam in its endgame, Östlund's film is still another fine addition to an increasingly impressive resume of releases.

4 hand grenades out of 5.

Jordan and Eddie (The Movie Guys)

Pretty much like "The Square", Östlund delivers again so much in between the lines of social criticism, while also not shying away from pretty much on the nose satire in its most vulgar form. While being creative and very anti-consumerism with the message here, this is a movie that might be to "critical" of the high society lifestyle, to reap rewards for the cleverly written satire it really is. It has a clear structure but also many flaws, that won't spoil the enjoyment though.

This movie is unfortunately 40mins to long and has an ending that is not satisfying in my personal opinion, but that's a matter of taste.

P. S. - Don't eat during act 2 and thank me later.

At its top layer, "Triangle of sadness" is a skillfully harsh comedy/parody, proudly absurd with a good dose of "cringe" in each of its 3 parts. Yes, it's funny and yes it's rude and over the top, but how else could it be since it tries to point a finger at our contemporary society?

If you follow the path that Östlund opens up for you, you might notice that beneath the strangely entertaining package the director tires to bring to light weakness found in aparent strength and not only this, but he also implies that no matter how much you try to "strip" people of their social shell, deep inside they can never really change.

Absolutely recommended and definitely worth the Palme d'Or it got this year!

This is something else and then some!

I accidentally stumbled into this movie and I can tell you that his story fascinated me from the very start! Without anything in particular dramatic happening at all, a FASCINATING tension / intrigue was slowly building up inside this story. THAT's the trademark of a brilliant writer and director!

This is definitely a director's gem!

This director manages to evoke feelings, evoke thoughts, with mere images and without any logical explanation. It is such a joy to watch this mindbending story unfold!

The photography needs special mentioning, because it was like a fly on the wall. Subtle, but suggestive. Mysterious and mesmirizing. I was drawn in like rarely happens. I was mesmirized!

However great the buildup in eery tension was during the first part of this movie, the final segment of this story was a bit of a let down, because the eery tension was gone. Still fascinating to watch the final unfold and there will surely be a LOT of moral analysis WHAT this picture is all about. But in the end this is what I simply would like to call BRILLIANT CINEMA.

BRAVO!

Thank you for reading my 1800th review on Imdb!