This past weekend, the Cannes Film Festival ushered in the premiere of Triangle of Sadness ("Triangle of Sadness") in the main competition. The film comes from the famous Swedish director Ruben Östlund. In 2017, his "Square" won the Palme d'Or, the highest honor in Cannes. After the audience stood up and applauded for seven or eight minutes, it was not entirely impossible to score a brace.

"Triangle of Sadness" poster

The protagonist of the film is a handsome male model played by British actor Harris Dickinson. He borrows the Internet celebrity supermodel girlfriend to board an ultra-luxury yacht and participate in a sea leisure party organized by the super rich. Unexpectedly, the situation at sea suddenly changed, and a group of people were forced to live on the deserted island, which led to all kinds of ridiculous stories. The title of the film literally translates to "Triangle of Sorrow", referring to the triangular wrinkle formed by frowning on a person's forehead, which for models who rely on their faces to eat, is something they try to avoid.
The most exciting part of the film should be a fifteen-minute seasickness scene. The violent storm made all the handsome men and women on the ship, who had delicate makeup and well-dressed, spit out their faces. In this scene, the director used the camera to show their vomit and excrement in detail, so that the well-informed Cannes audience could not help screaming on the spot, but what was heard more at the scene was the happy and hearty laughter of the audience.

Ostrund (right) on the set of "Triangle of Sadness"

At a press conference on the second day of the premiere, director Ostrund was very grateful for the enthusiastic response from the Cannes audience, saying that whatever the reason they were screaming, it was the greatest thing about his work. affim. He said that he also knew that after watching the film, some professional film critics criticized its jokes for being too vulgar, and all kinds of bad tastes gathered together, which really lost the noble identity of the Cannes film. But Ruben said that he doesn't care about any of this. What he is more interested in is the direct response of the audience, especially those ordinary audiences who are not familiar with the so-called art film norms.

Triangle of Sadness at Cannes Film Festival

"We did some test screenings in Berlin and Stockholm before, and I found that everyone's reaction was cold after watching it. Later, we went to the Spanish countryside to play a show. More than 30 rural people didn't usually watch movies. But they were the happiest when they saw it. They laughed and cried when they wanted to. The feedback was very direct. It made me feel like I didn’t make this movie for nothing. Europeans in big cities like Berlin and Stockholm, by comparison, always He looks so restrained. When watching a movie, he likes to hold his arms and stay out of it, forgetting that he is actually a part of the show. My goal of making this movie is to hope that it can bring the audience the thrill of riding a roller coaster. Because that's what the movie is for. I don't want people to watch this movie in a smart way. So I'm very happy that Cannes audiences have reacted to this film this time."

In 2017, Ostrund won the Palme d'Or in the main competition unit of the 70th Cannes Film Festival for "Square"

Audiences who have seen Ostrund's previous works "Force Majeure" and "Square" should be able to see that the 48-year-old Swede's works have always been angry youth, willing to challenge tradition and ridicule authority, and willing to be The little boy who exposed the lie of the Emperor's New Clothes. According to his own statement, this "Triangle of Sorrows" tells the absurd story that beauty can be used as money these days, and "it also means that Western civilization is about to come to an end."
The filming started at the beginning of 2020. At that time, the surging news reporter happened to be in Gothenburg to participate in the film festival. Ostrund deliberately rushed back to his hometown from the shooting site, took the time to meet with the media from all over the world, and also revealed a lot about this new film. ideas, such as the film's three-part structure, also talks about its inspiration from his wife. At the press conference in Cannes, Ostrund also re-emphasized Le's wife's contribution to this new work. "We met eight years ago, she's a fashion photographer, and I learned from her what the fashion industry really is. How fashion becomes a commodity, the poor working conditions of models and how beauty is treated as money, etc. ."

Woody Harrelson (left) and Ostrund on the set of "Triangle of Sadness"

American actor Woody Harrelson plays the captain of the yacht, an alcohol-addicted Marxist. At the press conference, Harrison, who has always dared to say, said that he was not a Marxist at all in his life, but a more radical anarchist in a sense. As if to prove that what he said was true, he immediately made a joke of former US President George W. Bush on the spot. On May 18, George W. Bush misrepresented Ukraine as Iraq during a speech at the Presidential Center in Dallas, calling the invasion of "Iraq" "completely unjust and barbaric." Woody Harrelson said, "I think this kind of practice is very bad. As a country, a country with such military power and such super-powerful power would go to attack others without being provoked at all. countries, such as Yi...A...Yue...I'm sorry, I can't remember how many others."
In addition to "Triangle of Sadness," premiering over the weekend was the documentary "Jerry Lee Lewis: Haunting Hearts" directed by Ethan Cohen from "The Coen Brothers." Decades of debut, Ethan Cohen and his brother Joel Cohen have always been focused on Meng and Meng, but last year's "The Tragedy of Macbeth" was only directed by his brother Joel alone. The outside world generally speculates whether they are brothers or not There is some conflict between the two, so the focus was also on the issue at the Cannes press conference for "Jerry Lee Lewis: Haunted by Heart".

Jerry Lee Lewis: Haunted by Heart stills

In this regard, Ethan Cohen said that things are not complicated at all. “We all loved movies and wanted to make them since we were kids, when everything was driven by passion and impulsiveness, we did what we said, and the process was fun,” he explained, “and then there was the second movie, and it was the same. Full of fun, almost as good as the first time. But after thirty years, I'm not feeling less fun, but filmmaking feels more and more to me than it used to be Get a job."
He said that his brother Joel actually felt the same way, because that was the inevitable price of growth, but his brother's sense of burnout was not as strong as his, so "The Tragedy of Macbeth" became his own work. "The last two films we worked on together were really grueling and difficult. So much so that I started to ask myself: Why do I keep making films? Now that the fun is getting less and less."
During the epidemic, the lockdown of the city also had a great impact on him, and even caused claustrophobic emotional problems. At this time, T-Bone Burnett (T-Bone Burnett), a musician friend who had collaborated with him on "Drunken Country Ballad" and "Three Kings of Prison Escape", called and asked him if he wanted to try shooting. The documentary of Jerry Lee Lewis, a veteran of the rock and roll hall, because his work is mainly to cut ready-made material on the computer, which is quite suitable for homework during the lockdown period. In this way, there is his return to the film industry this time.
When asked if he would work with his brother again in the future, Ethan Cohen said that no one can tell until the end of this kind of thing. "I don't even know what my next movie will be, and it's possible to do it with him. Before, I was like a child, I thought everything was boring, and it was boring to make movies. Then what? , and then a global outbreak. So we never know what's going to happen next. Can you predict the future?"