Watched 3 films this evening of very varying genres and qualities. As always I do NOT promise to speak spoiler-free…
First up was Triangle, a horror I suppose, although very little was horrifying. I was apprehensive going into this as I don’t like jumpy-out bits in films, I’m a wuss, however none of those ever came and I found myself watching carefully for signs of inconsistency.
So, basic premise: Some people on a yachting trip, hit sudden nasty weather, end up on ‘empty’ cruise ship… add to this the idea of a looping time line and the sudden and inexplicable realisation that killing everyone will save the day… then comes the twist at the end, we are shown that the story… or loop… actually lasts a bit longer and is all about our main lady saving her child, maybe.
So… I did vaguely like it. I love ‘time’ in films and TV, I love pulling the threads and making sure they come through properly, with no knots. Triangle has knots, quite a few knots.
The film has us following 1 iteration of the largest seen loop. Jess at home, then at harbour, then on sea, then on ship. Here there is a second loop within the first between them boarding the ship and all being killed. Jess gets ‘out’ when she falls overboard, but as this is a loop she should ALWAYS get out when falling overboard, in that exact way, we know this is ‘correct’ as she is involved in the falling from the other side in her iteration. However there is a another Jess we are never properly introduced to, for anyone thats seen it, she is the one that gets shot through the bag on her head by Jess #1. Jess #2, gets shot through bag on head and she kills weedy bloke with banana and stabs weedy bloke’s wife. But after that she vanishes and plays no further part… she may be involved in the 2nd jess/jess fight at the front of the ship. If so she would be the Jess in the jump suite that is actually killed by Jess, lets call her 3. This is witnessed by Jess #1, but Jess #2 and #3 do not interact with her directly at all. My long winded and probably hard to understand point is that for the loop to make real and proper sense, Jess #1 should be the only Jess…or and this is what I’m starting to think we are looking at just one iteration through the larger loop, however since Jess is aware of the loops they ARE different each time, but she’s never able to change the outcome. Of course this leads me to the other thing, she goes back and kills herself… meaning the ‘original’ Jess #0 the one we see in the home, in the dress at the start NEVER makes it to the yacht. So where the hell does Jess #1…etc come from in the first place?
I’m probably just spoiled by other TV and Film which have done loops, but I expect a clear point where xyz enters the loop. Realisation of the loop is almost optional, but if a loop break is accomplished, that too has a clear point.
Basically I think there are too many questions…. oh and what about Heather? Her character was completely pointless, there is actually NO reason for her to be in the film, none whatsoever, she offers nothing. a couple of lines of dialogue and poof she’s dead, or escapes the loop prior to it starting… who knows. I kept expecting her to show up, maybe living on the ship for years in her own loop or something, but nothing. Not even a oh look she survived the whole thing at the end. I really don’t get why she was put in.
So I would not recommend this film.
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
This was really weird, very very weird.
The plot, I think, basically involves an old tale of man vs the devil in betting. By far the shiny star in this film is Lily Cole, very hot 
As for the rest of it, very unusual and difficult to understand.
I wouldn’t recommend this either.
Definitely my favourite of the evening. A very nice story with some witty lines and Zooey Deschanel. I particularly liked the voice-over, narration and the segments flitting here and there over the 500 days, very cool.
THIS, I recommend.
Thoughts? I’ve considered buying some random equipment for the house… but they would probably grow dusty and unused in a cupboard… grrr You win again Laziness!!