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.

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.

A one-act play, centring on two sets of parents in a Brooklyn apartment discussing a violent episode between their children, sandwiched between a very short, speech-free prologue and epilogue as credits roll. The ostensibly liberal but clearly uptight mother and apparently more conciliatory but hen-pecked father of the victim invite the aggressor's parents (she overtly more community-spirited, he more put out as he manages a work crisis on his mobile) over to talk about the incident, as responsible adults, but the ensuing clash of attitudes prompts a descent into the sort of puerile behaviour that was precisely the intended subject of the conversation.

Well cast, the four players interpret the sharp, witty lines with aplomb, one's sympathies leaping around from character to character as they gradually unravel, but without ever settling anywhere for long as each in turn cedes any moral high ground as quickly as they gained it. There is scorn aplenty (subtle and blatant) as rivalries and alliances are repeatedly struck and dashed. One can forgive the improbability of the meeting surviving several junctures when it would more naturally end because the dialogue continues to give.

I guess you can't go far wrong with such a script in the hands of this director and group of actors and it makes for a very watchable film, although I'm guessing the stage is its real home and I'll look out for it there.

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.

Size matters, right? even for Roman, after the brilliantly intricacy-crafted THE GHOST WRITER (2010), the scale of CARNAGE shrinks just like a hors d'oeuvre, no wonder its lukewarm feedback is percolating in spite of the lure of 4 Oscar-bounded leading thespians. Actually the response is par for the course, the film hinges on a more stringent time schedule (literally the exact time audience spends in front of the big screen), which is too featherweight to be considered seriously for the Oscar race (referring to other play-adapted Oscar dearest CLOSER 2004 or DOUBT 2008, both at least possess a decent time span), but which doesn't thwart all the fun one could obtain from a feature film.

The disintegration of these two pairs of parents is intrigued bit by bit with derision, insult and disdain, the initial wrangle of two flatly unfamiliar couples are reflecting everyone's customary procedure of dealing with strangers, the approach of eclipsing others in a restrained manner in order not to break a fragile bottom line "our face of respect", and once Nancy (Kate Winslet's character) has lost her face with a hilarious vomit to all the civil pretentiousness, the battle of matrimony, sex, social supremacy and civil wit is officially instigated, the carnage of verbal assaults prevails and within a compact 80 minutes, the dialogues are drolly sharp and incisive, wounds are acute without bleeding,

The grand cast is beyond any accomplishment, Jodie Foster manifests her excellent curb in melodrama in many years though is a shade over-the-top during the end and Kate Winslet never mislead her devotees albeit being self-conscious in sundry scenes, Christoph Waltz fiendishly holds his introvert nature all the time while being socially authentic; arguably the weakest line, john C. Reilly is in his comfort zone to liberate the venom under his goody-goody disguise.

One big plus is the film ends ideally when the fray starts to become stale, so Polanski is still as crafty as any filmmakers could ever wish for.