NEW Triangle (DVD)

I'm surprised how many folks gave this film a bad review. I think this is only because the film was marketed to the wrong crowd so the wrong folks are watching it. This is not a Bermuda Triangle, Freddy Kruger, or Friday The 13 type of horror, Sci-Fi or slasher flick. Triangle is more along the lines Mulholland Drive, Angle Heart, Memento, The Shining or even Repulsion.

I will say for the first 15 minutes or so the movie seems kind of lame and for a time things may not seem to make much sense as characters make bizarre decisions - so you have to stick with it.

But once Triangle kicks in (I wish I could tell you how and why it kicks in - but your better off not knowing anything about this film) Triangle is a really good, nightmare of a film. Carefully and lovingly staged and edited by the filmmakers with very good performances photography and soundtrack.

The entire cast is excelent. The cast are playing American archetypes (not stereo types) - If you are an American who lives near the ocean you will instantly be familiar with these folks of various classes and relationships. All the actors are flawless in that they do not draw attention to their acting but instead simply become the characters - which is the ideal. Of course Melissa is a standout but her character Jessie is the focus - they were all great.

From reading the reviews I think I may be one of the few that understood the ending and the plot and if I'm right this movie is even better then most people think. A real "hell" of nightmare.

Highly recommend this film for fans of puzzles, non linear plots, off kilter cryptic stories and eye opening, disturbing endings.

This comment contains some spoilers.

If you like Melissa George then 2009's "Triangle" is a must see. She is on screen for about 90% of this 99-minute psychological horror feature. By far her most challenging role to date; she gets a lot of tight close-ups, a number of action sequences, and a character that is all over the map emotionally (must have been exhausting). The entire feature is told from her character's point-of-view (POV); and she does a good job of getting viewers to identify with her character.

Basically the story is weird mix of "Ghost Ship" (2002); "The Butterfly Effect" (2004), and "Groundhog Day" (1993); with a little bit of Julianne Moore's "Freedomland" (2006) thrown in for good measure. Even the POV twist was done recently in the minimalist Spanish film "Timecrimes"; although here it is more central to the plot.

But what makes the cobbled together mix of other movie elements special is more than the way they are mixed together or its intriguing POV twist. It is the introduction of Greek mythology as the story's primary thematic element. Specifically it is a retelling of the myth of Sisyphus, a man the gods had condemned to a hell of ceaselessly rolling a rock to the top of a mountain, at which time it would roll back to the bottom. The Gods had it in for Sisyphus who had been able to cheat death for a period through a deception. They thought with some justification that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor. There has been a long debate about whether it would have been better or worse for Sisyphus to know in advance that the rock was simply going to roll back down each time. Most jobs require a worker to spend their career at the same tasks, a fate just as absurd, but only tragic when they become conscious of the fact. Many believe that Sisyphus surmounts his fate by scorning it. The concept has been extensively examined by existential thinkers.

Jess, George's character, is busy processing her fate during each cycle but just as she is almost fully clued in she goes to sleep and loses all but a vague sense of déjà vu about her surroundings.

My "speculative" read on the story is that the process started when she killed her autistic son in a moment of frustration. Regretting her act she made a bargain with death (symbolized by the sea gulls that appear at various times in the film). She will give up her life in exchange for being allowed to go back to the moment of her son's murder and prevent it. But after preventing the murder she tries to renege on the agreement, driving away with her son. Death then subjects her to a punishment in the tradition of Sisyphus.

This is a relatively low budget film ($12 Million) in which almost all the budget makes in onto the screen. There is excellent production design throughout the film and just enough special effects to complement the storyline without calling attention to themselves. Likewise there is enough gore to meet the genre's quota but not so much that it distracts from the basic story.

It is all about point-of-view and a good example for film students of the power this device can bring to a film if used effectively. Even if the story is not your "cup of tea", the film is worthwhile viewing just to expand your understanding of how to read films.

Finally, there is a subtle but pervasive homage to Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" (1980). Not just the #237 on Jess's house and on the liner's stateroom door (this was the number of the haunted room in the Overlook Hotel) but the whole tone of the production; where the main set is actually more creepy because it is not dilapidated.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

"Triangle" was written and directed by Christopher Smith. A small group of passengers on a sailboat meets very strange weather conditions and have to jump onto another ship to discover more mystery than they could have bargained for.

This is one of the most thoughtful scripts I have ever seen in a movie. Every scene, every line of dialogue is there for a meaningful reason and several portions will click later on so this mind-bending experience will give your brain a lot to chew on. Melissa George stars as Jess, mother of autistic child, Tommy (Joshua McIvor) who just wants a nice day off to relax and go sailing, but things are going wrong. There are tensions on-board the boat since Greg (Michael Dorman), the captain is being set up with a girl his friends brought and the most mysterious storm any of them have ever seen creeps up suddenly and capsizes the boat leaving them stranded when another boat drifts by and they climb aboard. But where are the passengers?

Without giving spoilers away, an intense psychological dilemma ensues as Jess is locked into a series of events that push some hard choices. The best part about this movie is trying to figure out how much Jess is locked into her fate and how much she can change about her circumstances. Melissa George has a LOT on her plate here in terms of screen time and difficulty and does a phenomenal job showing the downward spiral as the pressure begins to get to her.

If you like "Memento" or "The Prestige", you should check this one out because it has a few similar ideas to see how far you would go for something you want under assumed conditions. Excellent film!