(from The Beatles’ “And Your Bird Can Sing”; more on that farther below)
Reviews and Comments by Ken Burke
I invite you to join me on a regular basis to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I’ll refer to as either the CCAL (Collective Critics at Large) when they’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they go negative.
“You see, you can’t please everyone, so you got to please yourself.”
(from "Garden Party" by Rick Nelson & the Stone Canyon Band, 1972 album of the song’s name)
Opening Chatter (no spoilers): After my calculated foray into a theater to see Avatar: The Way of Water (James Cameron, 2022; review in our January 26, 2023 posting) recently, I was back to COVID-avoidance-streaming last week, but there wasn’t much I found I cared to explore. Then the Oscar nominations were announced with one inclusion for Best Picture that I had little knowledge of, Triangle of Sadness, so I discovered it to be available on platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Vudu, etc. for a reasonable $5.99 rental, giving me an easy opportunity to fill in some “haven’t seen it yet “ blanks in my Oscar awareness given this one’s nominated for Best Picture while Östlund’s also up for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay (although neither the Directors Guild of America nor the Writers Guild of America saw fit to offer equivalent noms to him). This is an odd film from a Swedish filmmaker, but it does provide some effective satire about the self-centered-wealthy, prominent sociopolitical ideologies, and warnings about not eating food that’s sat out in the kitchen too long when a storm blows in. I don’t find it quite as marvelous as the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences voters did, but it does have a lot of entertaining moments if you’re so inclined. Also, here are links for the schedule of the cable network, Turner Classic Movies, which gives you a wide selection of older films with no commercial interruptions and the JustWatch site which offers you a wide selection of options for streaming rental or purchase. If you'd just want to see what reigned at the domestic (U.S.-Canada) box-office last weekend, go here.
Here’s the trailer:
(Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge it; activate
that same button or use the “esc” keyboard key to return to normal size.)
If you can abide plot spoilers read on, but this blog’s intended for those who’ve seen the film or want to save some $ (as well as recognizing those readers like me who just aren’t that tech-savvy). To help any of you who want to learn more details yet avoid these all-important plot-reveals I’ll identify any give-away sentences/sentence-clusters with colors plus arrows:
⇒The first and last words will be noted with arrows and red. OK, now continue on if you prefer.⇐
What Happens: We begin with a scene of a bunch of shirtless-male-models who are being prepped for something (a music video or a video ad?) with the one most focused on in terms of camera framing being Carl (Harris Dickinson) who’s given praise by the organizers of the event (all he had to do, though, was change expressions when different clothing designers are mentioned) but told he has a limiting facial flaw right above his nose referred to as the “triangle of sadness” (in one of the Anatomy of a Scene explorations far below in Related Links our director notes this term actually comes from the world of fashion models), which could be fixed with a little Botox injection. Next, we have a brief scene at a fashion catwalk where we meet much-more-famous-model (and Carl’s fiancée), Yaya (Charlbi Dean)—who’s also a social-media-influencer so Carl’s constantly taking smart-phone-shots of her for her approval. Then in “Part 1—Carl and Yaya,” we find them at dinner in a restaurant where they get into a squabble about who’s going to pay (this scene explored in detail in that Related Links “anatomy” pair) because he says she promised yesterday to cover today’s meal, she says she didn’t notice the bill on the table, she assumed he wanted to pay anyway.
After some back-and-forth on this dinner conflict (him a bit steamed she makes more money than he does, leading to him spouting something that could be interpreted as either pro- or anti-feminist) she gives the waiter her card but it’s declined so Carl pays anyway, followed by them returning to their hotel where the sparring continues as she’s seen as manipulative while her defense is she needs to keep somewhat aloof from entanglements until she’s sure she’s with a man who can take care of her because if she gets pregnant her career will be over. Next day they’re flown out to a luxury boat (seemingly in the waters off Greece), moving us into “Part 2—The Yacht,” where we first see a staff meeting headed by Paula (Vicki Berlin), who encourages the others to serve the guests’ every whim (no matter how idiotic) in anticipation of a large trip upon completion of the voyage; the only crucial crew member we don’t see is Captain Thomas Smith (Woody Harrelson), who spends most of his time drunk in his quarters. Next, we meet Carl and Yaya’s fellow travelers: Russian oligarch Dmitry (Zlatko Burić)—who’s made his fortune selling fertilizer (this film has no acknowledgement of Russia’s current invasion of Ukraine, with such a needed global commodity now largely sanctioned by demand from the U.S. and Europe, although these sanctions overall don't seem to be working too well) and his wife, Vera (Sunnyi Melles); disabled Therese (Iris Berben), almost unable to speak due to a stroke; British Clementine (Amanda Walker) and Winston (Oliver Ford Davies), whose fortune comes from selling hand grenades and other weapons; and Jarmo (Henrik Dorsin), a tech millionaire who’s just added to his fortune by selling his company so he flirts with Yaya and another woman, offering to buy both of them expensive Rolex watches, chatter Carl doesn’t take so kindly to.
The voyagers consistently make solipsistic-demands on the crew, including one from Vera that they all go for a swim in the ocean even though this means the stately Captain’s Dinner will have to be held a bit later than intended that night, with the chef complaining this delay will cause his food to spoil, but, no matter, this is a ridiculous situation of the customer always being right (even when Captain Smith’s told the ship has dirty sails, despite this being a motor-driven-yacht without sails, but he agrees to have them cleaned; however, this dinner is set for disaster anyway because when the drunken boss is told to schedule the meal for any night except Thursday to avoid forecast squalls, all he can comprehend is “Thursday” so that’s when it occurs, with him finally just sober enough to be the center of attention). The dinner proceeds calmly at first until the storm hits causing the ship to shudder in the waves, wind, and rain leading to the guests being overcome by a combination of seasickness and food poisoning so vomiting along with diarrhea sweep the ship, even as matters worsen with toilets overflowing, while Dmitry and Captain Smith use the ship’s intercom to argue politics and philosophy, a conversation they note is between an American communist and a Russian capitalist. The next morning, things actually get worse as pirates invade the ship, kill Clementine and Winston, ironically, with a hand grenade which capsizes the vessel, with many aboard drowning; so, in “Part 3—The Island,” some manage to be washed up on a nearby island: Carl, Yaya, Dmitry, Therese, Paula, Jarmo, and Nelson (Jean-Christophe Folly), who says he’s the ship mechanic but probably is one of the pirates. Then they discover what seems to be an enclosed lifeboat with restroom-cleaner Abigail (Dolly de Leon) inside, along with a modest amount of provisions, just some fresh water and snacks, which are greedily-gobbled-up by these lost, scared, shipwrecked survivors.
Soon, however, formerly-ignored-Abigail finds herself fully in charge of this motley-tribe as she knows how to fish and build fires, so the rest of them are suddenly dependent on her for their survival. One day, though, she realizes Carl and Nelson fell asleep during the night rather than tending to the fire so she refuses food for them (while keeping the large share of the catch for herself, as the others would have nothing without her). She soon forgives Carl, taking him into her shelter, no matter what Yaya thinks about it. Later, the other men get a bit more independent as Jarmo's encouraged by Dmitry and Nelson to kill a wild donkey with a rock, providing meat for a feast. ⇒Yaya decides to hike to the other side of the island to see what’s there, soon joined by Abigail; they come to another beach, seemingly part of a resort because they see an elevator likely connected to a hotel complex. Yaya wants to use it to find whoever’s at the resort, but Abigail hesitates, not ready to go yet (it’s clear she knows she’ll lose her newly-imposed-status if everything goes back to normal here), so while Yaya offers to make Abigail this known-celebrity’s assistant when they get back to civilization, Abigail sneaks up from behind with a large rock, fighting with herself about killing Yaya (likely not telling the others about their discovery, protecting her power among the castaways as long as she can). We don’t know what she does or what becomes of any of this group (although a beach vendor comes upon Therese, but she’s unable to communicate anything to him as he wanders off) as the last shot is simply Carl running through the lush jungle.⇐
So What? Just as with one of Östlund’s previously-notable-films, The Square (2017; review in our November 15, 2017 posting)—a strange satire about extremes in the world of high-class/avant-garde art—Triangle of Sadness also won the prestigious Palme d’Or top award, at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, although this is likely not a story that would appeal to audiences more interested in fare such as Avatar: The Way of Water, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Ryan Coogler, 2022; review in our December 1, 2022 posting) or Top Gun: Maverick (Joseph Kosinski, 2022; review in our June 9, 2022 posting); nevertheless, it might be quite attractive to alternatives-seeking-viewers who’d probably be more interested in films such as Everything Everywhere All at Once (Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, 2022; review in our April 14, 2022 posting), Tár (Todd Field, 2022; review in our December 1, 2022 posting)—for now my #1 for 2022, with still a few other considerations to see—or The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh, 2022; review in our December 22, 2022 posting).
I found Triangle … to be quite different in tone from most films you’d normally see in theaters or streaming, enjoyed a lot of the putdowns of the vacuous rich (as well as the communism-capitalism dual critique in the drunken dialogue of Captain Smith [very concerned about U.S. internal-assassinations, sociopolitical corruption] and self-proclaimed seller of “shit,” money-hungry Dmitry), but felt like I’d seen too much of this before, specifically in surrealist/social commentarian Luis Buñuel’s The Avenging Angel (1962) where another group of swells are unable to leave a house after a dinner (just as the … Sadness voyagers are trapped upon their battered boat), then various atrocities occur, along with Lina Wertmüller’s Swept Away (1974) where an arrogant, rich woman (Maiangela Melato) lords it over a deckhand (Giancarlo Giannini), until their little boat leaves them stranded on an island where, again, his survival skills far outclass hers as she becomes his virtual slave in this new environment, finds herself sexually attracted to him, but in this case (compared to Triangle … where we really don’t know what happens to the yacht's survivors) they’re rescued with their sudden-reversal of social status put back in previous place (much to the deckhand’s chagrin), which may well be an outcome of Östlund’s film also if these survivors are rescued somehow—you can explore speculations on the actual on-screen-ending and what it may imply beyond the narrative we see in this video (4:28), along with a similar one (8:06); Spoilers exist in both of them, though.
⇒For an opinion on such speculation about this story's 2 crucial women's outcome from someone involved with the film, actor Dolly De Leon (:53) says Abigail kills Yaya.⇐ So, when I put all of this together I don’t find myself as enthralled by this film as others have been (although the CCAL’s not “overboard” with it either; a bit more on that just below), thus I’ll just say it’s unusual, amusing in places, a clear diversion from what you’d normally find in other stories, but even with a few possibilities for my 2022 Top 10 list still needing to be seen—Babylon (Damien Chazelle), Women Talking (Sarah Polley), The Whale (Darren Aronofsky)—I just don’t see Triangle of Sadness on that list, nor am I clear how it got to be among Oscar’s 10 finalists for Best Picture, but at least that designation made me aware of it (as I hadn’t noticed it previously), so I’m glad I finally got to watch it.
Bottom Line Final Comments: While Triangle of Sadness had its domestic-debut back on October 7, 2022 it not only eluded my awareness but also must not have played in that many northern North American venues as it grossed only $4.3 million here (maybe a bit more to come as it’s still in a few theaters, at least in my San Francisco area), but possibly because its Swedish director is better known in other parts of the world (no worries about subtitles, monolingualists, as all of the dialogue here is in English) the global take is currently $22.8 million (opened mainly in Europe but still some small presence in the Middle East, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and Russia). If you’d like to see it, however, your best bet is probably on streaming where you can find it for a $5.99 rental at Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Vudu, and other platforms. As noted above, the CCAL’s not wildly-supportive with the Rotten Tomatoes reviews at 72% positive, the Metacritic average score in their frequently-reserved-realm of 63% (more details on these critics’ accumulation sites in the Related Links section below, as with anything I choose to review). James Berardinelli, for example, is in the same (brilliant?) direction as me: “As was the case with The Square, Triangle of Sadness takes some time to get going and occasionally slips into pretentiousness, but on this occasion Östlund’s screenplay is better focused. […] Editing is increasingly a lost art and there are times when Triangle of Sadness might have been more effective had it been presented with greater economy. Stylistically, however, that’s Östlund. We’ve seen it before and doubtlessly we’ll see it again. There’s enough here to make it worth enduring the length.”
Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post is even more supportive: “There are few filmmakers working today who are as eager to tackle life as we know it — without benefit of superheroes, pseudo-medieval mythologies or lockstep genre conventions — and give it a swift satirical kick where it hurts. If Östlund’s movies lack discipline — if his films overstay their welcome, become baggier, blowzier and more tiresome as they round the two-hour mark — they still leave the viewer grateful that somebody out there is engaged with a world that can be at least remotely described as real.” Of course, if this concept's uninteresting to you, take heart K. Austin Collins of RollingStone's ready to back you up: “[Östlund’s] style seems distinctive on the surface — he has a good eye — but it’s all surface. His direction here and elsewhere feels more excessive than it is, mistaking the spaciousness of its scenes and its commitment to the bit for the true, anarchic, even mean delights of the satire it appears to have in mind. The best thing this movie could do is risk genuine exuberance, a sincerely depraved sense of decadence that would make the social crimes of the rich he depicts come off as that much more corrosive, that much worthier of skewering.” It's your choice.
There’s also the position taken in this video (3:42; Spoilers of course) that satirizing the rich as in this film or Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Rian Johnson, 2022; review in our January 12, 2023 posting), The Menu (Mark Mylod, 2022; review in our January 12, 2023 posting), The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese, 2013; review in our January 4, 2014 posting), even the HBO cable series The White Lotus (2021, 2022) isn’t accomplishing its intention because these types of screen-depictions generally make audiences envious of the wealth and luxury instead of being disgusted by these lavish lifestyles of the rich and famous (including the filmmakers who make big bucks off these projects), at least in the opinion of this commentator. Well, I guess you’ll just have to see for yourself what’s going on in Triangle of Sadness if you care to explore it. If not, maybe you’ll be satisfied enough with my usual end-or-review-tactic of a Musical Metaphor to reflect on what’s gone before, in this case The Beatles “And Your Bird Can Sing” (on the U.K. version of the 1966 Revolver album, also on the 1966 U.S. Yesterday and Today album [when Capitol Records in the mid-1960s was repacking the British albums to sell even more options in the U.S., using various combinations from the British tracks plus some Beatles singles]) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOUlbre doUM (with various interpretations of John Lennon taking potshots in this song at Frank Sinatra or Mick Jagger and girlfriend of the time pop-singer Marianne Faithful or even Beatles bandmate Paul McCartney) because lyrics such as “You tell me that you’ve got everything you want / And your bird can sing / But you don’t get me […] When your prized possessions / Start to weight you down / Look in my direction / I’ll be round” easily sound to me like what Abigail could be saying to all of these superrich castaways once she’s become the leader of this desperate group, even as it could be (seemingly like Lennon expounding to any of those he’s being interpreted as singing to, in that he’s just as rich and famous as any of them at that time) any of the yacht’s swells giving notice to each other that they’re all endowed with prestige (at least until the storm comes) so don’t try to put yourself over me because “you can’t hear me” due to the noise you make which I'll have no use for.
SHORT TAKES
That’s all for my critical commentary this week (which usually reminds me of some parting lyrics from Pink Floyd’s "Time": “The time is gone, the song is over, thought I’d something more to say,” or maybe R.E.M. knows me even better [from "Losing My Religion"]: “Oh no, I’ve said too much / I haven’t said enough”), but whether you agree with any of that stuff or not I’ll offer you one more opportunity to be in unity with an attitude that would benefit all of us, James Taylor’s "Shower the People" (on his 1976 In the Pocket album), because we should “Shower the people you love with love / Show them the way that you feel / Things are gonna be much better/ If you only will.” We’re now sailing through divisive times; it could be a smoother ride if we’d only help each other a bit more.
Other Cinema-Related Stuff: (1) Andrea Riseborough keeps Best Actress nom for To Leslie after Academy investigation about improper campaigning by other actors (review of the film in our October 27, 2022 posting); and (2) New superhero projects for the DC Universe.
Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:
We encourage you to visit the Summary of Two Guys Reviews for our past posts* (scroll down to the bottom of this Summary page to see some additional info about you wacky critic, Ken Burke, along with contact info and a great retrospective song list). Overall notations for this blog—including Internet formatting craziness beyond our control—may be found at our Two Guys in the Dark homepage. If you’d like to Like us on Facebook (yes?) please visit our Facebook page. We appreciate your support whenever and however you can offer it unto us!
*Please ignore previous warnings about a “dead link” to our Summary page because the problem’s been manually fixed so that all postings since July 11, 2013 now have the proper functioning link.
AND … at least until the Oscars for 2022’s releases have been awarded on Sunday, March 12, 2023 we’re also going to include reminders in each posting of very informative links where you can get updated tallies of which films have been nominated for and/or received various awards and which ones made various individual critic’s Top 10 lists. You may find the diversity among the various awards competitions and the various critics hard to reconcile at times—not to mention the often-significant-gap between critics’ choices and competitive-award-winners (which pales when they’re compared to the even-more-noticeable-gap between specific award winners and big box-office-grosses you might want to monitor here)—but as that less-than-enthusiastic-patron-of-the-arts, Plato, noted in The Symposium (385-380 BC)—roughly translated, depending on how accurate you wish the actual quote to be—“Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder,” so your choices for success are as valid as any of these others, especially if you offer some rationale for your decisions (unlike any awards voters who blindly fill out ballots, sometimes—damn it!—for films they have never seen).
To save you a little time scrolling through the “various awards” list above, here are the 2023 Golden Globe nominees and winners (if you even care about them after all of their recent controversies) and the Oscar nominees for 2022 films.
Here’s more information about Triangle of Sadness:
https://www.triangleofsadness.film/ and https://neonrated.com/films/triangle-of-sadness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDBMoCdktHY (12:33 anatomy of a scene by director-screenwriter Ruben Östlund where Carl and Yaya argue over who pays for a dinner [ad interrupts at 7:42]) and again at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAHWHHg5XWU (3:31 anatomy of another scene by Östlund where the survivors of the shipwreck wake up on the island, find Abigail)
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/triangle_of_sadness
https://www.metacritic.com/movie/triangle-of-sadness
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