The class sections that take on prominence in Robin Ostlund’s “Triangle of Sorrow” remain neatly lined up in “Beautiful Troubles,” another cleverly depressing, festival-blessed comedy hitting theaters October 13. SXSW, also puts a young, less fortunate couple in the pocket of the very wealthy. Here, however, the high-end fall is not free, but at their expense – the setting of cruel games (as our hero duly notes) suggests the usual agenda of horror films “They’re going to kill us.”
This troubling trend isn’t where the movie ends up taking, and indeed the script (hatched by several performers here) manages to keep up expectations until the very end. The result is a fresh blend of social satire and the dissection of relationships with a heart-saving doll. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is opening it on about 30 US theater screens, synchronized with on-demand platforms.
Opening with a sex scene in which both parties are fine with quitting halfway – “Good try!” To one of the participants it looks like a nail in the coffin of the marital bed – the film immediately makes it clear that all is not well between Lindsay (Britt Rentschler) and Jack (Michael Tennant). For starters, they both hate their job: she sells other people’s clothes when she hoped to design herself, and he sells solar panels to residents who often shut their doors in his face. They are not poor, but they are not where they thought they would be, and the prospects are not bright.
So it’s all too cheerful for Lindsay when a wayward patron shines for her in her unpleasant boss’s shop. More than that, glowy, exuberant and very wealthy Kattan (JJ Nolan) insists that her new boyfriend and husband will be guests for a “wine-filled and picnic weekend” at her Sonoma County home. Jack is skeptical about the whole thing. However, they soon withdraw to the walled country estate surrounded by vineyards, crammed with expensive artwork and other luxury items inside.
Kat and her husband Matt (Graham Outerbridge) celebrate her birthday – an occasion they haven’t mentioned – with just another couple, middle school buddy Keri (Alex Klein) and newest girlfriend Carrie (Charlotte Oppen). The hosts have twin kids, but they’ve filled in an ice pair so the grown-ups can celebrate. Which they do, retaliatingly, not always with full prior disclosure. (This is a problem because former attorney Jack had his name crossed out due to a criminal offense for which he remains on probation, with drug testing regularly completed.)
There’s a very complete three-day schedule of planned excesses, backed by resident servants Becca (Katarina Hughes) and Dan (Clayton Fronning), the last of whom Lindsey knew in high school. In fact, there are many other things that linens already seem to know about their less affluent guests. Enough to make Jack, in particular, wonder if they were lured here as something like human games, their minds and bodies to be played with. Sure enough, every painfully decadent day ends with the newcomers constantly at odds with each other, their secrets revealed and on display for all to see.
Much to the credit of screenwriter Runtschler (who shares the story credit with co-stars Tennant and Oppen) that amusing antics never quite go beyond plausibility, and characters close to skillful cartoons also continue to reveal themselves as more intricate—even if they don’t They reveal themselves fully. Perhaps the most surprising thing about Beautiful Problems is that it steals enough depth to undo the upbeat fade, something that reliably rewards our heroes rather than giving them the expected explosive prize. This lack of sarcasm is the most satisfying of being unexpected in a movie that can include ironic-drenched lines like “You’re like a clown car on your way to a Chris Gaines party.”
All of these actors are very good at roles that they have had a hand in shaping in concrete terms. (Some of the closing credits scenes indicate a degree of improvisation involved.) For director Pantera, the expertly handled color transitions and seamless presentation are a huge positive leap from her latest film, Mother’s Little Helpers, the 2019 clumsy series of a dysfunctional family that premiered at SXSW. “Pretty Problems” also marks an impressive debut for cinematographer Alyssa Broccato, while other notable contributions to the powerful overall compilation are from production designer Ken Falk and music supervisor Rentschler.
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