I always love it when I go into a movie with tempered expectations, only to be very pleasantly surprised. Such was the case with Triangle, a noughties phycological thriller I hadn’t heard of until it recently played on The Criterion Channel where it was billed as “something like The Shining at sea.”
It’s really, really good, y’all!
The film begins with some elliptical scenes which introduce us to Jess, a young mum worn down by her role as the single parent of an autistic son. These opening scenes feel intentionally disjointed and have a Lost Highway vibe about them, but they do a great job of efficiently establishing the film’s central character and key backstory elements.
Soon enough, however, the narrative is on solid ground — but not for long. The perspective shifts to Greg, who has invited several friends for a day out on his yacht. One of them, of course, is Jess. But when she arrives at the marina, she is somewhat disheveled, disoriented, and seemingly on the verge of tears.
The group set sail and we quickly get to know everyone. Then a massive storm rolls in out of nowhere, the boat is capsized, and the group are stranded. Thankfully, an ocean liner appears out of nowhere to rescue them. Except when they climb aboard, they find it eerily deserted. Or is it?
As the group explore the ship’s labyrinthine corridors, they experience a series of strange occurrences. They’re sure they saw someone on deck earlier, but whoever it is remains hidden.
And then the killing starts. The bloody murders unfold in startlingly quick succession. Before the film is even 30 minutes in, Jess is the only member of the shipwrecked group still standing. Staggering on to the deck all alone, she hears voices — then sees herself and her companions stranded on the hull of Greg’s upturned-yacht and calling for help.
That’s right, she’s stuck in a time loop.
Writer/director Smith has said that he “wanted to make a cyclical film that explored Déjà vu avoiding using the same elements seen in Jacob’s Ladder.” Well, mission accomplished.
Triangle has a meticulously crafted script. Jess doesn’t just repeat the worst day of her life over and over again, she interacts with the other characters and causes things to occur that have seemingly already happened.
Melissa George essentially carries the movie and gives an endearing and entirely believable performance as Jess as she evolves from a traumatized woman to being shocked at the horrors about this ghost ship, to becoming something else entirely by the film’s end. She is magnificent.
Indeed, the acting is pretty uniformly top notch. (Shout out in particular to Michael Dorman of the excellent and cancelled-too-soon TV show, Patriot.)
By the end of the movie, three or four versions of the shipwrecked crew have boarded the ocean liner. Each time, the original Jess’ actions are markedly different — but are directly responsible for something that she had previously experienced. Hers is a lineal journey against a cyclical narrative.
It is wild, but it all makes sense. It’s an incredibly impressive Rube Goldberg Rubik’s Cube screenplay with no obvious plot holes that struck me.
There are some disarmingly horrific visuals here too: among my favorites where those that suggested that Jess has been through this time loop many times before. There’s a drain in which she drops her locket on to a pile of dozens of duplicate lockets. There’s a corner of the ship where multiple bodies of the same person lie strewn about the deck.
It’s unnerving, creepy, and completely compelling.
And yes, there are several nods to The Shining, too: most notably cabin 237, a message scrawled in blood in the mirror, and the same phrase written over and over again…
This is not your average time loop horror movie. Jess — and the movie overall — is very intelligent. She quickly comprehends the weird situation in which she’s trapped, figures out the rules, and comes up with a plan to escape. It’s what every movie that uses this device should be. Truly great.
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I shall look out for this!