Carnage

Working on a "sense of community," the two couples in Carnage engage in slowly evolving urban warfare, precipitated by violence in the playground between their two sons. This adaptation from the Broadway play, God of Carnage, is a soberer (by a little) version of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Penelope (Jody Foster) and Michael (John C. Reilly) host Nancy (Kate Winslet) and Alan (Christof Waltz) in their Brooklyn apartment to iron out difficulties coming from their sons' fight, which resulted in Penelope and Michael's son's mangled mouth. What begins civilly escalates to a raw verbal mêlée with all players laying bare their prejudices and weaknesses while the issue of the repentance of Nancy and Alan's child becomes a vehicle for class and culture clash. As in director Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby, the action is almost exclusively in the small, one bedroom apartment, resulting in an uncomfortable crowding of bodies and egos. And it doesn't take long for the individual differences to surface as one is conciliatory, another confrontational, another detached, and another bewildered.

Nor does it take long (only an 80 minute production anyway) for alliances to build (and not necessarily in the same couple) with the refrain "Why are we still here?" becoming the battle cry. Yes, it doesn't turn out well, nor would most confrontations except that the civil veneer usually stays intact for most of us.

But when writers Yasmina Reza and Polanski allow the characters to speak their minds, albeit helped by Scotch, the drama gets good and the words become socially lethal. What I like best is the language, not elevated but sassy, smart, and colloquial: "Should we wrap this up?" Yes, it is a film to be wrapped, but there is no real end to the social jousting that goes on in our minds if not our mouths, which are sometimes beaten badly as careless children might do in their play.

it is not a surprise. the cast is great and the script/play gives many opportunities for demonstrate this fact. image of a crisis, simple and powerful, impressive for the precision of scenes,a play who has chance to has extraordinary actors, it is a splendid exploration of characters and society human types. a special film who seems be almost extravagant.because all is different by common recipes. the transformation of masks in aggressive tools, the fragility of existences and marriages, the force of accusations, the frustrations as axis of a form of survive. a bitter comedy, a deep drama. and one of guide movies who reminds the purpose of real cinema - art as subtle reflection of life.

From the director of Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown & The Pianist, Carnage is a simple, small scale & lighthearted black comedy that stacks four interesting characters inside a single location and, with the help of its sharp wit & committed cast, demonstrates the entire futility of the situation where parents try to settle their children's fight by themselves.

The story of Carnage follows two pairs of parents who, following an incident involving their sons, decide to meet each other and discuss the matter in a civilized manner. Friendly & cordial at first, their discussion soon dives into endless snarks, squabbles & disagreements and as the day progresses, the issues of their personal lives eventually make it to the surface.

Co-written & directed by Roman Polanski, the film is in perpetual motion throughout its 80 minutes runtime even when it is taking a breather, for the jibes just keep coming from one end or another. It does help to have well-rounded characters that are dysfunctional in their own ways and it certainly makes for one compelling drama when the whole charade comes crashing down.

Except for the bookended scenes, the entire plot unfolds inside a single apartment, and this minimal setting compels the viewers to keep their attention on its characters. Its sardonic wit & piercing dialogues never run out of fuel. Camera is employed like a silent observer that's solely focused on the biting conversations between two parties, and Editing provides a tightly-knitted structure to its 80 minutes narrative.

Coming to the performances, Carnage features an outstanding cast in Kate Winslet, Jodie Foster, Christoph Waltz & John C. Reilly, and all four of them are absolutely fantastic in their given roles. The tirade between Winslet & Foster, in particular, is a highlight to watch while the two men really try to keep their distance from the pointless argument until dragged into the mess by their respective missus.

On an overall scale, Carnage is a delightful, delicious & devilish little comedy that's skilfully crafted & splendidly performed and delivers an extravaganza that's funny, smart & engaging from start to finish. Most may not rank it amongst the best films of Polanski's decades-spanning career but in my opinion, it is an underrated gem that deserves a higher place in his filmography. Wild, hilarious & entertaining, this comedy of no manners is absolutely worth a shot.

CARNAGE – CATCH IT ( A ) Carnage is one of a kind movie about the meeting held between two set of parents regarding their sons fight in the Brooklyn Park. What starts as a meeting between the parents to determine what led to the fight, turns into the most chaotic day of their lives. Carnage is truly splendid, its four characters in one costume in one apartment. The whole movie is like a theater play where it seems that all is said and done in one shot. Roman Polanski got his hands on some of the most talented actors like Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Walts and John C.Reilly. All the actors have done a tremendous job in showcasing Sensible, Polite, Patient, Direct, Tense, Irritated, Defensive, Outraged, Drunk, Insanity, Chaos, Mayhem, Devastation, Violent, Persuasive, Shocking, Appalling, Juvenile, Massacre and Grotesque emotions. I must say that the ending and the whole hamster story in the movie was hilariously excellent. Overall, Carnage is an excellent dark comedy which requires multiple viewing to understand the characteristics and greatness in the performances of the actors.

Despite it's name, which should imply a very violent movie, this one is a wonderful little movie about social structures and the way its built within us to the point of forcing us to behave in certain ways.

The concept for this movie is simplistic to the maximum level. Just 2 couples discussing terms for their kid's fight. What seems to be a nice meeting to solve the problem soon became a carnage fight (of words only, gladly).

The movie allow us to explore the aspects of each of the 4 personalities, that's it, that's the movie, and it's great, superb, no music, no special effects, no induced drama, no additional details to color the movie. Simple, powerful, nicely done.

From all the movies coming from Hollywood these days, this one is a nice gift, top notch actors, great comedy, nicely put together, what more could you ask.

So, go on, see the movie, what are you waiting for!