Model and influencer couple, Carl and Yaya (Harris Dickinson and Charlbi Dean) find themselves on an increasingly disastrous and uneasy cruise.
Triangle of Sadness
Release date - 28th October, Cert - 15,
Run-time - 2 hours 27 minutes,
Director - Ruben Östlund
There’s a sequence towards the end of the second part of Triangle Of Sadness’ clear three-act structure which may just be one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long time. The 15-20 minute gag is clearly built up to with individual jokes and references before all unfurling in one glorious, satirical, partly-gross-out side-splitter. There are extra individual chuckles aside from this held within so that the constant avoids tiring up. The layers all compliment each other and simply allow for one of the funniest sequences of the year.
It’s just a shame that afterwards there’s not much that can comedically top this. There’s still a number of laughs within writer-director Ruben Östlund’s knack for drawn out gags, often lying on the borders of effective cringe comedy. He plays with his clearly targeted characters in usual satirical fashion - after his previous two features Force Majeure and The Square - delivered by a strong ensemble cast.
Harris Dickinson and Charlbi Dean lead as Carl and Yaya, a pair of models and influencers whose relationship feels distant and largely led by its representation on social media. Yet, to get away from such thoughts - and Carl’s worries that his career is gradually fading away - they land themselves a luxury cruise on a lavish superyacht. While there’s little sign of the drunken captain (Woody Harrelson) there’s plenty of input from the other passengers, including a wealthy, scene-stealing Russian fertiliser salesman (Zlatko Buric) and elderly British weapons manufacturer owners (Amanda Walker and Oliver Ford Davies).
While almost two-and-a-half-hours the film’s run-time, thanks to its frequently funny humour, goes by quickly. It may slow down in the third act, where Dolly De Leon’s yacht crewmember Abigail begins to command events, after the aforementioned heights of the second part’s finale. However, there’s still plenty of amusement to be found within the slight tonal shift and new angle, focusing on a much more dishevelled and out of place group, which is presented after the humour of an “a few hours later” title card. Things may begin to border on the long side, but overall the film fills its run-time rather well, generally avoiding feeling one hundred and forty seven minutes.
Östlund sets his tone with ease in the opening stages as we see a loud documentary being filmed amongst a group of male models waiting to audition. His satire is finely tuned for each character yet broad enough to bring in a number of different laughs for each scenario. Pointed and yet not afraid to go into gross-out territory there’s plenty of enjoyment to be found here thanks both to his scripting and direction and the heightened performances brought about by the ensemble cast. It may start to stretch in the final stages, but for the most part Triangle Of Sadness is a wonderfully pitched piece of frequently laugh-out-loud satire.
Jamie Skinner -Four stars