Triangle of Sadness
★★★
Did Bernie Sanders write the Triangle of Sadness screenplay?
This film is a dark satire about the rich that is a bit too clever for its own good. I feel like it has a lot of interesting nuances to dissect, but it's extremely unbalanced. Director Ruben Östlund loathes these characters and gives them no credit for their actions. I'm perfectly fine with having a group of anti-heroes in a film, but Östlund has made them into cardboard cutouts so the audience can never sympathize with their plight.
I appreciated the style of the shots and the daring to linger when other directors would be tempted to cut away, but too many times Östlund doesn't know which character to focus on. Despite its fallacies, Triangle of Sadness is very engaging. I constantly wanted to know what was going to happen next and if anything, Östlund knows how to mess with expectations, despite having ironic jokes that aren't as clever as he thinks. I particularly liked the third act a lot and wondered if that in itself could've been the movie. Everything that needed to be said is depicted in the last third of this movie. Too bad Östlund felt like it was necessary to punish his characters severely to prove his points.
All that said, I hope people watch this movie solely because it is guaranteed to elicit some interesting conservations. Just make sure to avoid consuming seafood before watching.
