Review of Carnage (2011) by Stuart K — 19 Jun 2012

Cirected by Roman Polanski, based upon the play God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza. This is a very claustrophobic film that also manages to be absolutely hilarious, with 4 terrific performances, and some great dialogue as well.

It's a good chamber piece that's like a more savage and more witty take on Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, only with a lot more nasty talk. After Zachary Cowan (Elvis Polanski) apparantly disfigures Ethan Longstreet (Eliot Berger) with a stick.

Ethan's parents Penelope (Jodie Foster) and Michael (John C. Reilly) invite Zachary's parents Nancy (Kate Winslet) and Alan (Christoph Waltz) round to discuss the matter. It's not meant to last very long, only 10-15 minutes, but various circumstances means the Cowan's end up staying longer than usual at the Longstreet's apartment.

Michael offers them a fruit cobbler, which leaves Nancy feeling ill and she ends up vomiting over Penelope's rare art books. Alan is talking to a very rich client over the phone about a deal soon to go down, and differences grow between the Longstreet's and the Cowan's, and they end up verbally abusing one another, not helped when Michael gets a very rare whisky out, and they end up being more childish than their kids.

It's a good chamber piece, which remains rooted in theatre, but it also manages to be very theatrical indeed. It's a very good film, and it shows that Polanski is finally able to handle comedy, (unlike Pirates (1986)), but it's a very enjoyable film, and Foster, Reilly, Waltz and Winslet are all able to hold their own against one another, and all give twisted performances.