Triangle (2009) explanation.

I was - once again- feeling creative.

There is a well known subgenre in movies lovingly called the mindf*ck movies. Those movies that like to play around with the intelligence of the audience by handing out (philosophical) mindgames or puzzles. So, for instance, Nolan's Inception. A movie that simply asks the audience: "About what you've just seen: What was and what wasn’t a dream?".

I personally enjoy these types of movies. Especially if they involve some sort of time travel like, again for instance, Primer.

But there are basically two kinds of mindf*ck movies. To use the comparison with a puzzle:

Type one gives you all the pieces and in the end the picture is complete. The movie pretty much ends completely explained with a string and a bow. At the end of predestination every little detail is explained. No problems or questions left. That is, if you paid attention.

The second type, however, doesn't give you all the pieces of the puzzle. In the end you can see what the complete picture -pretty much- represents but there are blank spaces left. Spaces left up to the viewer's interpretation. 

So, to take Primer, this movie willfully leaves out several key events. So if you were to draw a diagram about the events of the movie there are several blank spaces that can only be filled with some educated guessing. As some of the diagrams on the internet show, you can get pretty close. But in the end that's what it is 'guesswork'. You'll never know for certain.

Now. It's always easier to explain something by drawing it out then by verbally (or textually) explaining it. So there are various diagrams/infographics about movies like Inception, Predestination, Primer, Looper, Interstellar and others. If you -like me- are interested in reading about movies and finding out what other people think about it these are great expressions of that.

Which brings me to Triangle. This is another lovely mindf*ck movie that dares the audience to make sense of it all. But when I googled the movie I couldn't find any diagram or infographic to explain the movie. All I found were some cleverly written interpretations/theories about the meaning of the movie. So I decided to create my own infographic about this movie based entirely on the explanation given by Reddit user Atoramos (also read Pete's article -another great insight.).

I could explain the entire movie here and patch on a little review. But I think it is wiser to watch the movie for yourself first and then (and only then) take a gander at this attempt at art below. Because, naturally, this picture spoils the entire plot. Enjoy.