Triangle (2009)
Country: Australia/UK
Production Company: Icon Entertainment, Framestore and the UK Film Council present in association with The Pacific Film and Television Commission, a Dan Films and Pictures in Paradise Production
Executive Producers: Steve Norris, Mark Goodier, Stefanie Hue
Producer: Jason Newmark, Julie Baines, Chris Brown
Line Producer: Tom Hoffie
Director and Screenplay: Christopher Smith
Editor: Stuart Gazzard
Cinematographer: Robert Humphreys ACS
Music: Christian Henson
Production Design: Melinda Doring
Special Effects: Clint Ingram
Visual Effects: Framestore/Ivan Moran
Sound Editor/Designer: Peter Baldock
Make-up: Shane Thomas
Titles: Framestore/Anthony Gibbon
Stunts: Jimmy Christiansen
Budget: $12M
Length: 95 mins.
Cast: Melissa George (Jess), Michael Dorman (Greg), Rachael Carpani (Sally), Henry Nixon (Downey), Emma Lung (Heather), Liam Hemsworth (Victor), Joshua McIvor (Tommy), Bryan Probert (Driver)
Synopsis: Waitress Jess arrives a little dazed to embark on a yachting trip with Greg and his wealthy friends, who are mistrustful of her intentions. Once at sea, the boat is overturned in a storm, but the group is saved by a large cruise ship, which appears to be empty. Once on board, Jess becomes unnerved by a sense of deja vu, and is quickly sucked into a vortex of violence and inexplicable death.
Review: It's unfortunate that it took Christopher Smith four years of shuffling Post-It notes to bring together the script for Triangle, because in the meantime he's been usurped by the similar Timecrimes, which is a shame as it detracts somewhat from this neat little thriller.
Visually influenced by Dead Calm (bleached out exteriors), and The Shining (endless wood-bordered corridors), Smith has come on in leaps and bounds from his debut, the not terribly good Creep (2004), and the much better Severance (2006), and even if Triangle doesn't quite hold up to scrutiny, this is by far his best work, and bodes well for his mediaeval horror film The Black Death, currently in post production.
Premiering at September's Film4 Frightfest in London, Triangle has a circular narrative that borrows from Ambrose Bierce and John Clifford, and requires complete identification with the main character if we're going to buy the twists. Applause, then for Melissa George (Turistas, 30 Days of Night), who came to Smith's attention playing a similarly fractured psyche in HBO's "In Treatment". Her initial slack-jawed chill giving way to fear and determination, with a real emotional core to a character desperate to get back to her autistic son. The remaining ensemble don't really have much to do other than get killed (repeatedly), but New Zealander Michael Dorman (seen next in the Spierig's well-received sci-fi/vampire movie Daybreakers) registers strongly as the wealthy yachtsman falling for George's Jess.
Early references to Sisyphus (the ship is named for Aeolus, his father) anticipate the repetitive heart of the film, where Jess repeatedly encounters the same scenario, but each time in a different way until she figures out the horrific answer to escaping the cycle, and the identity of the masked figure with a shotgun. Unfortunately, this section is not as clever as Smith thinks it is, and undermines Jess's intelligence by having her view certain dire actions and then repeat them blindly. Thankfully this is balanced by some beautiful imagery – multiple identical corpses and a pile of lockets in particular - that underline the futility of her efforts.
The end section has been roundly criticized in certain quarters, and Smith does let himself off a little easily, relying on convenient amnesia and a head scratching deus ex machina, but it's a satisfying wrap up nonetheless, one that will have you second guessing yourself for a couple of hours afterwards, and amusingly allows the film to act as its own sequel.
Triangle is by no means perfect, but Smith deserves kudos for attempting a complex variation on the old dark house formula, and anything this far removed from dumb teens in peril should be applauded.
For a collection of future reviews from Frightfest see here. Triangle was released in the UK on 10.16.09, no US release date has been announced.
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