Have you ever been in an argument and the person you are arguing with has to get the last word? That is precisely what happens in this uproariously funny dark comedy, ‘Carnage’ directed by legendary filmmaker Roman Polanski (Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown, The Pianist). ‘Carnage’ has been adapted to the screen by Polanski and playwright Yasmine Reza, from her Tony –Award winning play ‘God of Carnage.’ Reza’s dialogue in the film is amazing. Polanski had to convince her to turn her play into a movie. For artistic integrity reasons, the talented playwright shies away from selling her works to Hollywood so this film is a rare treat.
The opening scene of ‘Carnage’ takes us to a playground somewhere in New York City. The camera never gets close to the two young boys but we are able to observe the incident from a safe distance. Obviously, Polanski is doing this intentionally. A scuffle between the two young boys ensues; one of them picks up a stick and smacks the other boy so severely he ends up losing two teeth. That’s it. That is all we see of the boys for the entire movie. Again, it is done intentionally to depict the randomness of the act and for us as the audience not to quickly choose sides.
The movie quickly cuts to an upper-middle class apartment somewhere in New York City. This apartment is really nice… I mean really, really nice. It makes the apartment in the old Seinfeld television series look like a shoebox. For the rest of the movie, this is where the camera remains… in this apartment… with the two parents trying to work things out. Polanski is a master at using small, claustrophobic spaces in his films to enhance the drama of the scene. The apartment belongs to the victim’s parents Penelope and Michael Longstreet (Jodie Foster and John C. Reilly). They have invited the bully’s parents Nancy and Alan Cowan (Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz) over to discuss the unfortunate incident between their sons.
At first, the two sets of parents are very cordial to one another. As they spend more and more time with each other, the superficial civility gradually disintegrates and we are allowed to see the couple’s true colors come out in vivid detail. This is when the film gets raw and quite good. The parents start hurling insults at each other in a subtle passive-aggressive manner. However, the insults are not just thrown at the opposing parents. As some aged-scotch is sipped by all four, inhibitions are weakened and we see the married couples making hurtful insults at each other. It shows us that these two marriages are not as happy and stable as they may appear. That is the irony of it all and why the audience I was among was laughing out loud frequently throughout the film.
You never really know how happy a couple is until you go behind closed doors. Well, Polanski and his film, ‘Carnage,’ let’s us, the audience, become a voyeur so to speak. We are trapped in this apartment just like the four major players. All four actors do a superb job but I have to give more praise to one actor in particular. Christoph Waltz is the standout performance of this film. He plays a workaholic lawyer that is tethered to his Blackberry phone. It is so funny when the couples are in a heated argument, Waltz’ phone rings, and he answers it with complete abandonment of what is happening around him. He is a brilliant actor. If you haven’t seen ‘Inglourious Basterds’ (he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor) or the film ‘Water for Elephants,’ you’ll see that Christoph Waltz has an incredible acting range.
‘Carnage’ is now playing at The Flicks theatre, downtown Boise.
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