Uploaded to YouTube on Jan 23, 2015, by criterioncollection.
I want to start thinking about Östlund’s latest movie Triangle of Sadness, with his videos and video recommendations. He has a couple of funny YouTube videos and interviews. The one where they watch the Academy Awards foreign film shortlist announcements is tragically funny. Triangle of Sadness felt a lot like a Buñuel film, and this recording has some clues. The video is from Criterion Collection’s series, where they invite film people to visit their collection where they can get some free films. The guests are mostly filmmakers, but there are also actors, screenwriters, etc. The common denominator is probably the love for film. I’ve been a follower of this series for some time since it gives me a great moment in every video where the cinephile experiences the encounter with tens of classical films, and each person reacts differently. My favourites are Leigh, Huppert, Varda, Jenkins and Martel. Some of them show anxiety, while most of them are fascinated. Some glance through the shelves and pick the first film that interests them. The others, mainly the older filmmakers, prepare the films before the shooting and give a presentation on the pre-prepared personal selection. In the last instance, every Criterion closet video shows a different cinephile physically encountering a good selection of the film history.
In this mythical room of world cinema, Östlund starts the conversation with: “When it comes to my influence, I have looked a lot on YouTube”. He mentions how he checks the references on YouTube for the films he made, gives the famous example from Force Majeure, the crying scene of Tomas. The first absurdity for me is to praise YouTube videos in a room of classical films. It even feels like Östlund, with his satiric/cynical style, challenges the collection with a counter-argument. So what does he have to say?
- He first suggests the helper video for Force Majeure, with his prompt “worst man cry ever”, and the first video I found is Best Cry Ever? Worst Cry Ever? –Intervention with 1.3M views, uploaded on April 23, 2010. There are also longer versions.
- The second one is “idiot spanish bus driver almost kills students” which leads to the video Idiot Spanish busdriver almost kills students. One of the early YouTube videos that was uploaded around two years after the platform was built, on December 10, 2006, has 3.5M views now. He doesn’t mention, but he’s probably inspired by this video during the fantastic finale of Force Majeure.
- Next, “battle at kruger” leading to a documentary footage of Battle at Kruger, again a pre-history YouTube flick. Uploaded on May 3, 2007, has 88M views now. It’s an eight-minute drama of a “battle between a pride of lions, a herd of buffalo, and 2 crocodiles at a watering hole in South Africa’s Kruger National Park while on safari.” (as the video description portrays). I see this battle almost everyday in my life.
- I sadly couldn’t understand the last one. I googled a bit, tried to listen to him at 0.25x but couldn’t get the last word. It’s something like “taxi driver int…” but, no relevant results.
We’re just at the end of the first minute of his video of 06:46 minutes long. But this may be enough as an introduction. Right after the YouTube recommendations, he mentions his anxiety about being in this room, supported by his background which was not in film but in ski movies. Just like the other cinephiles in the Criterion closet, he releases this tension with a personal confession and starts talking about the films in the closet. And that’s the end.
p.s. DAILY LIFE ONBOARD A NORTH POLE CRUISE vlog for the fans of Triangle of Sadness.