CARNAGE -- new drama from Roman Polanksi

Interesting. Always like Polanski. Is this a rare comedy or will it evolve to something rude?

OK, never mind, I have it,...

Penelope:
- A self righteous art historian and specialist in African culture
- Described as a screaming culture freak (lol)
- Writing a book about the Darfur tragedy
- "Michael this is going to end badly"
- “Fortunately there is still such a thing as the art of coexistence, isn’t there?”

Nancy:
- A stockbroker; in "wealth management", her husband's wealth to be specific
- Consistently wears good shoes
- A sensitive workaholic who neglects her child
- Experiences cathartic releases; about halfway through the play Annette throws up all over her husband and the precious art books everyone worships
- "Let's get out of here Alan, these people are monsters!"

Michael:
- A proud self-proclaimed wholesaler with a sick mother
- He's scared of rodents so he threw his kid's hamster into the street which becomes the topic of arguments, he's seen as a murderer
- "Marriage [is] the most terrible ordeal God can inflict on you, marriage and children"

Alan:
- A cocky disrespectful corporate lawyer who is never off his mobile phone.
- He keeps answering his phone without apology to deal with a pharmaceutical company's PR nightmare (a wonder drug has turned into a problem drug) until his wife dumps the phone in the vase with the tulips
- "People struggle until they're dead"
- "Puking seems to have perked you up"

What a blast this was! It starts off slowly, and for anyone under 30 (maybe if you have kids it will help) it will be too slow, but you get that in a character driven movie. The tension and volatility builds and builds as it moves along. It’s like a simmering volcano before it explodes. You have the conflict between the two couples. The conflict within each relationship. Then you have the gender conflict. So you have this gathering of four people who are all over the place. Then they start hitting the Scotch. Now all the emotions come out and it’s an all out war. Everyone is fair game. In the end, you see who really are the adults and who are the children. I had a lot of lol responses.

Jodie Foster was outstanding. She has this internal burn from the very beginning that rises as the story moves along. Everyone else was very good, but from beginning to end Jodie was the best, IMO. Kate was a close second.

The actual runtime is 1:15, which is perfect for this ‘stage play’.

I can’t wait to see this one again.

Highly, highly recommended!

Agreed. Watched it last night and was very impressed (and at 80 minutes, didn't feel drawn out or overstayed its welcome). Admittedly, I was exhausted and fell asleep for about 10 minutes and had to rewind though. Grrr....shouldn't watch movies like this when I'm that tired.

I particularly loved the ending, where...

I've been wondering about Carnage. Sounds like it's lots of fun!

My wife and watched this one a couple of weeks ago. Loved it.

I loved how the "alliances" were made, then quickly betrayed, and then new alliances formed, and eventualy betrayed. Pretty much like kids on the playground

The acting from all four was superb. It was worth watching just to see four fantastic performances.

Cary

Agree guys. Another good one from Roman.

I don't know what it is but the trailer I saw wasn't particularly funny...seemed like stereotyped character.
Most of these stage play conversions lose something in the process IMO.

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I've seen the play twice, with two different casts.

It's a play that is VERY dependent on the right cast to elevate the text, because if you look below the surface of the play, there's not a whole lot there. Also, there is a certain "sameness" to the play dialog after awhile, and without really talented actors, it starts to be tedious. The Broadway production that came out here had Gandolfini and Bridges and Hope Davis and Marcia Gay Harden and was great to watch them spar onstage, where they had the chops to put changeups in the way they played the characters. Of course, afterwards, all anyone talks about is the cast and not the play itself. Put in a cast that doesn't have that energy, and the flaws of the play start to peek through.

Now that's the play. I don't know how the movie holds up, but going by just the cast and having seen the play and not the movie, it seems Polanski, et al., recognized it and put a lot of thought into getting the right actors for it. I'll have to see it to find out if that's the case.

You're describing my exact thoughts before watching the film.

Don't you drink Scotch? What more do you need to know?

Seriously, you can't EVEN, EVEN go by the trailer. But. But. You can't eject after 45 seconds. As I posted earlier, it just builds and builds. I really think if you hang in there you will like this. The performances are great.

ONLY because I respect your opinions, I'll put it at the top of my queue...

And no, I don't drink Scotch...I drink Bushmill's Black Bush (Irish Whiskey).
Although to be honest, this winter I have been refining my margarita recipe...yummm...

To me it was very, very contrived and ridunkulously pretentious. The script felt like it was totally forced and scripted. And to make matters worse and Im not sure it's because of the forced script or not but I have never seen my favs like Winslet, Foster, and Waltz this bad. Foster was the worse of them, horribly over acting the whole way through. And Waltz spent the entire time on the phone with his phantom conversations. But whatever, bottom line is if you got a kick out of it that's all that matter. I'm just giving my feedback.

If one likes wordy dramas in which the leads are all portraying asses, then it might be up your alley. Having seen it once, that was enough and a second viewing will not improve my opinion of this film. Too bad, because I expect a lot more from Roman Polanski - although the film is probably very true to the play, which I have never seen. It was simply amazing at how much this film could be stretched out. What a misleading trailer. But then trailers are meant to attract attention to whatever film it is trying to portray. For that, the trailer accomplished its mission because I watched the BR.

Character driven movies are wordy, that’s why they call them a study in character. If all the characters were flawless, uninteresting or the same, it would be boring and there would be little purpose. That doesn’t mean you have to like Carnage. I enjoyed seeing the characters slowly remove their pretentiousness and express their frustrations and say what they really think. If anyone is looking for The Fast and the Furious then this movie isn’t for you.


If you want the characters to quickly show everything about themselves then don’t bother with this film. It’s a transformation over time. Again, you don’t have to like it. I loved it.


That was classic Woody Allen - Play it Again Sam. Tony Roberts was always calling his office to leave a number of his current location or where he was going to be. That was how it was done then. Mobile technology allows Waltz to do it differently, but he was that same irritating character that is obsessed with his work.

It’s a character driven movie, which is why you have characters like the one Waltz portrayed.

It is not that I do not like wordy dramas, it has more to do with how it comes across on screen and there are many factors involved in that. It is more than amusing that Waltz's character could never exit the apartment until the end of the film. Your points are over generalizations and it always comes down to personal preference. You liked it and that is fine, I came to the opposite conclusion.

Agree 100%.