By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Ruben Öslund
Starring: Charlbi Dean | Dolly De Leon | Harris Dickinson | Jorma Björkman | Vicki Berlin | Woody Harrelson | Zlatko Buric
Country: france, germany, greece, sweden, turkey, united_kingdom
Year: 2022
Running time: 150
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7322224/reference/
Brett says: “A follow-up from director Ruben Öslund’s FORCE MAJEURE, TRIANGLE OF SADNESS is a dark satire that some will call ingenious layering and build, while others will leave scratching their heads with doubt as to how anyone could praise such a film. For this viewer, the merit here is that no other film really seems to unveil a story in this way, tonally speaking: the craftsmanship of the humor is such a blend of styles, including thinly veiled laughs that are complex ironies built into simple observations of an otherwise ‘normal’ moment to overt absurdity which thrives off of a swelling crescendo of comedic tension that earns it the right to go overboard.
“The film is a clear three chapter format, which is fitting for the ‘triangle’ in the ‘triangle of sadness.’ (Not to worry though, there is another payoff to the title in addition to that, rest assured.) A short prelude kicks off the film prior to the narrative triptych and sets the tone for a type of voice that just doesn’t seem to occur in other films. It’s all so cinematic and refreshing. It even feels a little beneath the film to even refer to it as a comedy. It’s more than that — it’s inherently funny without really hamming it up. (Until the time is right.)
“The film is also a very clever look into class, excess, beauty, and ‘institutionalized propriety’ while it weaves its intricate web of humor. TRIANGLE OF SADNESS operates with these themes in a top-down pyramidal framework; that is, the references are not as glaring at first, but once the film is complete, one hopefully will realize they were there from the get-go: some veiled as ‘passive’ production design elements, some as setting and ‘metadata’ about the characters, and some as lines buried within other dialogue whose purpose seems secondary to the original intent by the end of the film. By the time the viewer gets to the base of the pyramid, it is painting these satirical themes with a much broader paintbrush.
“What’s more is how astute the cast is in understanding how to unfold the humor and points being made in the film. In short, it’s a phenomenal overall effort from the entire cast. (This is also a deserving nod to the director for expert attention to detail and conveying the scene-by-scene goals to the performers.) As such, one can only hope that every person goes into this screening with as little knowledge about the plot and antics therein as possible so that the events and lines that unfold can have a fresh effect. The meal is never as good if someone else has done all of the tasting for you. Well, there are likely exceptions to that tenet, and to find out why, one should rush out to find TRIANGLE OF SADNESS when it is finally released. Some may look at the runtime and think that it is quite lengthy, but there was never a time when this viewer felt that this cut of the film would have been any better from being any shorter than it is currently. 5 cats out of 5“