Ruben Ostlund’s latest provocation is absurdist satire done, mostly, right. The writer-director yet again proves he’s a unique voice in cinema and one that is much-needed at the moment.
However, I can’t help but think that the Swedish auteur just isn’t able to stick the landing in his films. It happened before, in the mostly brilliant “Force Majeure” and “The Square” and it happens again here. 3/4 of this new film is absolutely brilliant.
In “Triangle of Sadness,” Ostlund again tackles gender and socio-political games. Briefly, it’s about a group of a dozen or so millionaires who decide to spend their vacation on a cruise yacht. The smiles are fake, and the privilege through the roof.
I don’t want to get too much into the plot because the less you know about “Triangle of Sadness” then the better. Just know that the laughs stick in your throat, it’s a bitingly hilarious movie, and one steeped in absolute social modernity. Characters come and go, and the overall feeling again is that Ostlund’s distaste for today’s cultural climate is anger-filled.
Clocking in at 142 minutes, the film is overlong and episodic, but there’s a real richness to the satire, so much so that this will bug the hell out of the politically correct, and the elites, who claim to be for the people. They will feel uncomfortable watching this film, and deservedly so.
Ostlund is trying to tell us that If push comes to shove, and survival comes calling, these people can’t help but blatantly show their hypocrisy and artificialness. [B+]