TRIANGLE OF SADNESS : Tuesday 31st January 2023.

I finally got around to seeing the M Rated 'TRIANGLE OF SADNESS' this week after its Australian release on 26th December. This satirical black comedy film is Written and Directed by Ruben Ostlund in his English language feature debut, and follows his success with his highly acclaimed multi-award winning and nominated 'The Square' in 2017 with Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss and Dominic West. This film saw its World Premier screening at last years Cannes Film Festival where it received an eight minute standing ovation and won the Palme d'Or and has so far picked up another eighteen award wins and fifty-nine nominations from around the awards and festival circuit (with many of those still awaiting a final outcome, including three Academy Award nods). Released in France at the end of September, in the US in early October, in the UK in late October and over Christmas in Australia, the film has so far recouped US$23M from its US$16M production budget and has garnered generally positive reviews.

Here then, fashion model couple Carl (Harris Dickinson) and Yaya (Charlbi Dean, in her last film role before her untimely death in August last year), are in a relationship and dating. Having eaten at a lavish up market restaurant the waiter presents a bill and places it on the table between them. Carl looks nervously at the bill while Yaya claims not to have noticed it. Carl becomes agitated at Yaya for expecting him to pay for meals even though she earns more than he does, and eventually she presents her credit card for payment, only for the waiter to return saying that payment was declined, twice. So she offers to pay cash, but doesn't have enough, so Carl pays after all. They bicker to and fro about money and gender roles. She admits that her relationship with Carl is for the engagement it earns them on social media, and that she wants to become a trophy wife, but Carl says that she will come to love him. 

They are invited on a luxury cruise free of charge aboard a US$25M superyacht in exchange for promoting it on social media. Among the wealthy guests are the Russian oligarch Dimitry (Zlatko Buric) and his wife Vera (Sunnyi Melles) who made their money in fertiliser, an elderly British couple Clementine (Amanda Walker) and Winston (Oliver Ford Davies), who have made their fortune manufacturing weapons, most notably hand grenades and land mines, Therese (Iris Berben), a wheelchair-user who is only capable of speaking a single sentence in German ('In Den Wolken' translated 'In the Clouds') which she does repeatedly following a stroke, and Jarmo (Henrik Dorsin), a lonely tech multi-millionaire.

The guests kick back and relax on the yacht, oblivious to the crew working to meet their every want, need and desire. The head of staff, Paula (Vicki Berlin), demands they obey the guests' absurd requests, including having every crew member jump off the boat via a water slide and swim in the sea. When the kitchen crew are also ordered to swim, the chef says that this means the food will go off, but the kitchen crew are ordered anyway. Meanwhile, the yacht's captain, Thomas Smith (Woody Harrelson), spends his time drunk in his cabin and conversing through his locked door with Paula who urges him to come out. 

Paula eventually coerces Thomas to sober up and attend the Captain's Dinner scheduled for Thursday evening at 8:30pm, as the yacht passes through rough seas and a heavy storm. A number of the guests become violently seasick, vomit heavily, and/or have diarrhoea, and frenzied panic breaks out as the yacht lurches from side to side uncontrollably. The drunken Thomas and Dimitry are left alone in the dining room playing drinking games and argue about socialism and capitalism over the intercom. Meanwhile, several guests are injured as the storm tosses the ship, the toilets back up and sewage floods the boat, and the power goes out. When morning arrives, pirates attack, killing Clementine and Winston with one of their own hand grenades causing an explosion which ultimately capsizes the yacht. 

Carl, Yaya, Dimitry, Therese, Paula, Jarmo, Nelson (Jean-Christophe Folly) who claims to be a ship mechanic, and cleaner Abigail (Dolly de Leon) are the only survivors who are washed up on a remote island. Abigail turns up in a lifeboat washed onto shore the next morning with a supply of bottled water and potato chips. She, it turns out, is only one with any survival skills, such as catching octopus and fish and building fires, and quickly sheds her below deck crew member status and assumes command, as the other survivors recognise their reliance on her for food and warmth. 

As the survivors bond and come to terms with their new circumstances, Abigail assumes more power, getting her own private bed inside the lifeboat, and coercing Carl into a sexual relationship in exchange for him gaining special privileges and food. Yaya grows jealous, and Carl considers leaving her for Abigail. Jarmo kills a wild donkey by smashing it over the head repeatedly with a rock, which Dimitry and Nelson celebrate. 

Yaya one day decides to hike to the other side of the island to see what she can see, and Abigail volunteers to go with her despite Carl's concerns. Traipsing over heavy undergrowth and through mountainous terrain Yaya calls out to Abigail bringing up the rear, that she has found an elevator with beach umbrellas and deck chairs stacked up nearby, and realise they have been stranded close by to a luxury resort. Back at their camp, Therese encounters a beach vendor but is unable to communicate her situation. Yaya celebrates finding the elevator, but Abigail hesitates to enter, wanting to rest up for a few moments to savour their solitude together. Abigail excuses herself to take a pee and then stealthily walks back prepared to attack Yaya with a rock. She hesitates, however, when the oblivious Yaya suggests that Abigail could perhaps work for Yaya as her Assistant. Carl is then seen frantically running through the undergrowth that Yaya and Abigail had previously trodden. 

'Triangle of Sadness' is a film of this moment in time when the world is gripped by social media, of influencers, of gender dynamics, of the have's versus the have not's, of the political divide and of excess writ large all culminating in a survivalist story and a reversal of fortunes as the meek inherit the Earth (or the island at least!). Ostlund here unravels this story of the privileged, uber rich and powerful people as they come to ultimately lose their self-respect and freedoms firstly in gushing rivers of spew and shit, and then on the island as their fortunes are so readily and easily cast aside. The film is engaging enough despite its near 150 minute run time, and there are some genuinely funny laugh out loud moments here too, in which the Writer/Director displays in full view his deeply satirical view of the world and all the trappings of the rich and (in)famous. The international cast here all seemed keen to portray whatever depths of depravity that Ostlund was going to demand of them, but this film belongs to Dolly de Leon as Abigail, and Woody Harrelson who is always compelling and shines in his role as the drunken Captain in the all to brief screen time he is given. Charlbi Dean and Harris Dickinson also put in noteworthy performances. The ending however, left more questions unanswered and made me scratch my head wondering if Ostlund's dash to wrap things up quickly was a deliberate ploy to keep the run time at just under two and a half hours!

'Triangle of Sadness' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Monday 26th December 2022.

As 2022 draws to a close it's a time to reflect on the cinematic year that was, and the hope for generally better times ahead in the new year, as cinema audiences have continued to stay away from movie theatres (particularly for smaller independent offerings) coming off the back of COVID-19 lockdowns, escalating cost of living impacts and the ever increasing competition from streaming services. This year I have Reviewed forty-four movies, Previewed 237 feature films and documentaries and paid my respects to 258 legends of both the small screen and the big screen who have passed away in 2022. All that remains for me to say is the very best to you for a very Happy New Year that is safe, healthy and prosperous, and wherever you are in the world, get out and watch a movie at your local multiplex or local independent movie theatre and support all those working tirelessly in front and behind the camera who like so many other trades and industries around the world, continue to do it tough but do it for the love of moviemaking. Thanks for your support this past twelve months and I look forward to bringing you more of the same content in the coming year.  

This week there are six new movie offerings coming to an Odeon near you, starting with a tale of two lifelong friends living on a remote Irish isle in the early 1920's who find themselves at a stalemate when one abruptly ends their friendship without any warning and with alarming consequences for both of them. Then we turn to a story of a cruise for the super-rich which sinks, leaving survivors, including a fashion model celebrity couple, trapped on an island. Next up, guided by instinct and spectral visions, an ambitious writer and amateur historian defies the academic establishment to unearth Richard III's 500 year long-missing remains buried under a car park. This is followed by a biopic of a singing sensation who rises from obscurity to international fame in the 1980's to become one of the greatest singers of her generation. We then have a live action animated film based on the 1965 children's book about a singing crocodile that lives in New York City; before closing out the week with an animated film that is a sequel to a 2011 film featuring Puss in Boots who discovers that he has burned through eight of his nine lives, so he embarks on an epic journey to find the mythical Last Wish and restore his nine lives.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the six latest release new films as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release or as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the coming week.

'THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN' (Rated M) - is a black tragicomedy film Written and Directed by Martin McDonagh, whose prior film making credits take in his debut in 2008 with 'In Bruges' and then 'Seven Psychopaths' in 2012, and the critically acclaimed 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri' in 2017. This film saw its World Premiere showcasing at the Venice International Film Festival on 5th September, where it received a fifteen minute standing ovation from the audience. Colin Farrell won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor and Martin McDonagh won the Golden Osella for Best Screenplay. It was theatrically released in Ireland, the UK, the US at the end of October and is released in Australia this week, having generated widespread critical acclaim and bringing in so far US$20M in Box Office receipts.

At the tail end of the Irish Civil War in 1923, on the remote fictional Irish island of Inisherin, Padraic Suilleabhain (Colin Farrell) is devastated when his long term friend and drinking buddy Colm Doherty (Brendan Gleeson) suddenly puts an end to their lifelong friendship. With help from his sister Siobhan (Kerry Condon) and a troubled young islander, Dominic Kearney (Barry Keoghan), Padraic sets out to repair the damaged relationship by any means necessary. However, as Colm's resolve only strengthens, he soon delivers an ultimatum that leads to shocking consequences. The film was named one of the best films of 2022 by the National Board of Review, and it has received a leading eight nominations at the 80th Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy and Best Director.

'TRIANGLE OF SADNESS' (Rated M) - this satirical black comedy film is Written and Directed by Ruben Ostlund in his English language feature debut, and follows his success with his highly acclaimed multi-award winning and nominated 'The Square' in 2017 with Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss and Dominic West. Here then, fashion model couple Carl (Harris Dickinson) and Yaya (Charlbi Dean, in her last film role before her untimely death earlier this year), together with a group of billionaires, are invited on a luxury cruise in exchange for promoting it on social media. When the yacht sinks they become stranded on a desert island with the group and a cleaning lady. In the fight for survival, old hierarchies are turned upside down since the cleaning lady is the only one who knows how to fish and who possesses the necessary survival skills. The film also stars Woody Harrelson, and saw its World Premier screening at this years Cannes Film Festival where it received an eight minute standing ovation and won the Palme d'Or and has so far picked up another seven award wins and nineteen nominations from around the awards and festival circuit. Release in France at the end of September, in the US in early October, in the UK in late October and only now in Australia, the film has so far recouped US$16.5M from its US$15.6M production budget and has garnered generally positive reviews. 

'THE LOST KING' (Rated M) - is a British comedy drama film Directed by Stephen Frears and Co-Written by Steve Coogan (who also stars here), based on the 2013 book 'The King's Grave : The Search for Richard III' by Philippa Langley and Michael Jones. Stephen Frears previous film making credits include 'My Beautiful Laundrette' in 1985, 'Dangerous Liaisons' in 1988, 'The Grifters' in 1990, 'High Fidelity' in 2000, 'The Queen' in 2006, 'Philomena' in 2013, 'Florence Foster Jenkins' in 2016, and 'Victoria and Abdul' in 2017. In this inspiring true story, amateur historian Philippa Langley (Sally Hawkins) believes she has made the archeological find of the century, the lost burial site of King Richard III, who has remained lost for over five hundred years, underneath a car park in Leicester. She takes on Britain's most eminent historians, forcing them to rethink the legacy of one of the most controversial rulers in English history. Also starring Steve Coogan. The film saw its World Premier at the Toronto International Film Festival in mid-September this year, and was released in its native UK in early November and has garnered mixed or average reviews. 

'WHITNEY HOUSTON : I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY' (Rated M) - is an American biographical musical film based on the life of American singer Whitney Houston, who died at the age of 48 in February 2012 and is regarded as one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. It is Directed by Kasi Lemmons whose previous film making credits include 1997's 'Eve's Bayou' with Samuel L. Jackson and Jurnee Smollett, 'Talk to Me' in 2007 with Don Cheadle and Chiwetel Ejiofor, 2013's 'Black Nativity' with Forest Whittaker and Angela Bassett and 'Harriet' in 2019 with Cynthia Erivo and Janelle Monae. This film celebrates the life and music of Whitney Houston (Naomi Ackie), one of the greatest female R&B pop vocalists of all time, tracking her journey from obscurity to musical superstardom. Also starring Stanley Tucci as Clive Davis (Houston's record producer), Ashton Sanders as Bobby Brown (Houston's husband) and Tamara Tunie as Cissy Houston (Houston's mother). 

'LYLE, LYLE, CROCODILE' (Rated PG) - this American musical comedy film is Directed and Co-Produced by Will Speck and Josh Gordon whose pairing brought us their debut feature film with 2007's 'Blades of Glory', then 2010's 'The Switch', 'The Power Inside' in 2013 and 'Office Christmas Party' in 2016. This film is an adaptation of the 1965 children's story of the same name by Bernard Waber. When the Primm family (Constance Wu as Mrs. Primm, Scoot McNairy as Mr. Primm and Winslow Fegley as young Josh Primm) move to New York City, Josh, struggles to adapt to his new school and friends. All of that changes when he discovers Lyle, an anthropomorphic saltwater singing crocodile (Shawn Mendes) that loves baths, caviar and great music. The two become fast friends, but when evil neighbour Mr. Grumps (Brett Gelman) threatens Lyle's existence, the Primms must band together to show the world that family can come from the most unexpected places. Also starring Javier Bardem as Hector P. Valenti, Lyle's owner. The film was released Stateside in early October, has so far grossed US$88M from a production budget of US$50M and has garnered mostly positive press. 

'PUSS IN BOOTS : THE LAST WISH' (Rated PG) - is an American computer-animated adventure film that is a direct/stand-alone sequel to the 2011's 'Puss in Boots', which was a spin-off of the 'Shrek' franchise and is the sixth instalment thereof. This film is Directed by Joel Crawford whose two previous Directing efforts are the TV special 'Trolls Holiday' and the 2020 feature film 'The Croods : A New Age'. Here daring outlaw Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas reprising his role from the first film) discovers that his passion for peril and disregard for safety have taken their toll. Puss has burned through eight of his nine lives, though he lost count along the way. Getting those lives back will send Puss in Boots on his grandest quest yet as he embarks on an epic journey into the Dark Forest to find the mythical Wishing Star and restore his lost lives. But with only one life left, Puss will have to humble himself and ask for help from his former partner and nemesis, the captivating Kitty Soft Paws (Salma Hayek). In their quest, Puss and Kitty will be aided, against their better judgment, by a ratty, chatty, relentlessly cheerful mutt, Perro (Harvey Guillen). Together, our trio of heroes will have to stay one step ahead of Goldilocks (Florence Pugh) and the Three Bears Crime Family (Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone and Samson Kayo), 'Big' Jack Horner (John Mulaney) and terrifying bounty hunter, The Big Bad Wolf (Wagner Moura). The film was released in the US last week and has received generally positive critical acclaim. 

With six new release movie offerings this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere at your local Odeon in the week ahead.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-