Triangle of Sadness

There are independent films, and then there is "Triangle of Sadness". For a relatively simple ship sinking and a subsequent survival of passengers on a desert island, this certainly went into many tributaries for plot and story. I sort of akin this film to those such as "The Lord of the Flies" and "The Beach" when it comes to survival.

In Ruben Ostlund's sardonically funny Palme d'Or winner, social hierarchy is turned upside down, revealing the tawdry relationship between power and beauty. Celebrity model couple, Carl (Harris Dickinson) and Yaya (Charlbi Dean), are invited on a luxury cruise for the uber-rich, helmed by an alcoholic, unhinged boat captain named Thomas (Woody Harrelson); a major storm brews and subsequent sickness ensues with the passengers. What starts as an instagrammable time, ends catastrophically, leaving the survivors stranded on a desert island and fighting for survival mostly with certain crew members, Paula (Vicki Berlin) and Abigail (Dolly De Leon), then with each other. 

Others to round out the cast are Zlatko Buric as Dimitry, Alicia Eriksson as Alicia, Arvin Kananian as Darius, Oliver Ford Davies as Winston, Iris Berben as Therese, Sunnyi Melles as Vera,  Carolina Gynning as Ludmilla and Thobias Thorwid as Lewis. 

This was directed with such subtle intensity by Ruben Ostlund ("Family Again" (documentary) '02, "The Guitar Mongoloid" '04, "Involuntary" '08, "Play" '11, "Force Majeure" '14, "The Square" '17) plus shorts. He has the innate ability to not only get his actors to emit the emotions the way he needs for it to happen, but he also knows how to create that subtleness when it comes to increasing that intensity or other emotion that's involved. It was also executed in an interesting way by writer Ostlund (same as resume above except "Family Again"). The best aspect of this story is that of the premise. Think about it: a luxury cruise filled with spoiled, rich, self-centered passengers ending up on a desert island after their ship sinks, and is put in a situation of total survival mode. It is incredible fodder for a very funny script, however, the delivery just didn't come across as very funny at all. It had some dry humorous parts, but overall, it lacked, and thereby didn't have that punch it could've had. Also, there were some things not explained, such as, what happened to most of the passengers and crew, especially the captain? The assumption is that they didn't make, but that was never mentioned, and with a 147 minute running time, it could've been mentioned. Plus, it was simply too long-in-the-tooth--approximately 20-30 minutes could've been cut and still have the same impact. Was it a total wash? Absolutely not--the acting and character development was fine and creative respectively. Also, it was truly difficult to have much sympathy for these passengers because of the many issues that didn't lead the audience to empathize with. Ostlund will truly receive more work since most of his experience lies in the independent realm, and that carries a whole different audience base.

If you like independent films, you'll love this since it is a quintessential indie film. I just wish it was a bit funnier, because that would've been more captivating--not a physical comedy, but one where the writing would be more satirical in nature. Both Dickinson and Harrelson gave memorable performances which certainly added to that intensity. 

Out of 4 Stars: 2.5                                            Rated: R                                               147mins.