Blair Loveday
Going into Triangle of Sadness I had no idea what to expect. A slow burn satire of the rich and influencer culture?
A silly over the top physical comedy? What? Well it turns out all of those things and so much more!
Man it is hard as hell to talk about this movie without light spoilers, so if you want a weird fun surprise, stop reading and go check it out. If you don’t mind light spoilers, read on.
Triangle Of Sadness is cut into three distinct phases.
The first part we are introduced to Yaya and Carl who are both models. We get an interesting slice of their careers as models, and a weird dynamic in their relationship where Carl wants to be the man of the relationship but wants to be more progressive. He has to deal with these feelings while Yaya screws with his brain and manipulates him. This sets a clear tone for the movie and I was intrigued to see how it would go.
The next part takes place on a luxury yacht.
Yaya and Carl got free tickets since Yaya is a successful influencer, and we get an interesting slice of lots of peoples lives. We get the rich and influential customers, we get the hosts and hostesses who give the customers the top notch services, and the below them we have the cleaning staff.
This clear hierarchy is put in place for the third part, but here we get some interesting cultural satire, followed by a very unexpected piece of absurd comedy. The joke they land on goes on so long it becomes much funnier than it should be.
The third phase, thanks to an unfortunate event, has some of them stuck on a deserted island. Here we have the entire hierarchy thrown on its head where the cleaner has a lot of survival and hunting skills sits at the top of the hierarchy, and the rich and powerful start with no useful skills.
We mostly take a step back from the absurdist comedy and spend more time focused on a satire of all these characters’ lives. Then it ends with an ambiguous ending that is as brilliant as it is frustratingly ambiguous.
I don’t know what I was expecting with Triangle Of Sadness, but I was not expecting this. The way it shifts tone leaves you not knowing what will be thrown at you, which after the very slow start, is worth watching. A lot of what works in the movie only lands because of the excellent casting and acting.
This is a must see comedy for sure.
