Grade: B
Triangle of Sadness is like an explosion at the movie factory. Writer/director Ruben Östlund has so many ideas, and rather than paring it down to the best ones, has decided to try EVERYTHING. At the end of our 2 hour and 27 minute journey, we are so far removed from where we started that it feels like a different film. However, moment-to-moment, it works most of the time.
It is split up into three parts. Part 1 is called “Carl and Yaya,” where we meet Carl, a male model, and his girlfriend Yaya, a professional Instagrammer. They are played by Harris Dickinson and the late Charlbi Dean. Dean unfortunately died two months ago today, at age 32, of a lung infection. This was her last movie. They are great together here. He is easily made jealous, and over-analyzes. He instigates conversations that remind me of how I’d speak to my wife 21 years ago in the first few months of our relationship.
They have been invited on a yacht to promote their cruise on social media, which brings us to Part 2: “The Yacht.” The director occasionally seems to be making a commentary on the rich, but being wishy-washy and not quite committing to anything. As the ship’s captain, Woody Harrelson brings his usual refreshing irreverence. As he is the only actor in the movie that I recognized, it’s especially nice to see him here, and he gets some fun bits. If you see this movie at a dine-in theater, I’d steer clear of eating anything while watching. There is an extended sequence of mass projectile vomiting and diarrhea, as graphic and specific as I’ve ever seen. It had me simultaneously laughing and hoping it would stop because we’ve had enough of that.
Part 3 is called “The Island.” The trailer gives away more than I’ll share here. I’ll be vague. This is where the viewer comes to the sneaking suspicion that things aren’t going to add up to anything cohesive. It’s in this act where Dolly De Leon shines, as Abigail, one of the cleaning ladies on the ship, now calling the shots on the island. The ending is a cheap cop-out, as if Östlund had exhausted all of his ideas and just settled on an awkward landing with something weird for the sake of weird. We’re given a cliffhanger and not shown what happens. But all this aside, somehow Triangle of Sadness has an innate charm that is able to sustain it enough. There’s a certain fun as we are strung along, wondering if all this will ever amount to anything. I haven’t read many reviews. I’m eager to see if the positive ones had the critics just as confused, or if they’ve magically figured it all out.
Grade: B
Film Reviews by Mark 
Leave a comment