Triangle of Sadness - 3 nominations

 

Best Motion Picture of the Year Erik Hemmendorff (producer) Philippe Bober (producer)

Best Original Screenplay Ruben Östlund

Best Achievement in Directing Ruben Östlund

Triangle of Sadness might be the kookiest of all the Best Picture nominees, and that's in a category with multiverse madness, Everything Everywhere All at Once. The film begins on a high end, very exclusive, very expensive yacht and we learn a bit about the passengers and their stories.  A model and social media influencer (who have been invited to the yacht for free), a Russian oligarch, wealthy arms dealers, a lonely tech millionaire; they all come together with a ship's crew who caters to their every need and whim.  The crew are led marginally by their captain played hilariously by Woody Harrelson, and by Paula, the real woman in charge.

When the perfect storm of food poisoning, violent sea storm, and pirates combine, a handful of passengers and two of the ship's crew survive and are stranded on an apparently deserted island.  Paula assumes her default role of taking care of the surviving passengers while ordering Abigail, one of the ship's cleaning women to assist her.  It becomes clear that among all of these fancy people, Abigail is the only one with any survival skills.  Guess how much it matters that you own several vacation homes when stranded and just need shelter and food? Power shifts to the one with the skills who is truly able to take care of everyone with her ability to hunt, fish, and create fire. When Upstairs/Downstairs gets flipped on its head, the result is a hilarious and fantastic film.