The very first thing you notice about Carnage, the latest film from Roman Polanski, is the unparalleled cast. Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, John C. Reilly, and Jodie Foster play two suburban, yuppie New York couples who meet to discuss an after school altercation between their sons. Sounds simple enough, and the talent involved promises a true acting showcase, and it delivers that in every respect. But this is also a Polanski film, and any idea that this will be some drawn out bore of a talker should be thrown out the window. Carnage continues the directors penchant for hammering home the darker sides of our nature, in a brutal and awkwardly funny comedy that will have you bristling in your seat.
Based on Yasmina Reza's revered stageplay, Polanski shifts the settting from London to an upper middle class section of Brooklyn. Interesting considering the film was shot in France, but there's never a hint of authenticity. Penelope and Michael Longstreet(Foster and Reilly) are on the surface the very model of congeniality. Penelope in particular sees herself as some sort of savior, and thinks to be acting in the best interests of all involved. Michael is basically a welcome mat, who goes with the flow as long as it doesn't upset the apple cart. But they've never quite met anyone like Nancy and Alan Cowan(Winslet and Waltz), a devastating pair of pent up anger and upper class elitism, they can barely contain their dislike for each other, much having their parenting skills(or lack thereof) thrown into question by a mealy mouthed pair like the Longstreets.
What starts out as a rational, measured meeting of the minds rapidly devolves into an uncomfortable, feral war of words as any pretense of civility is tossed out the window. The main culprit is Alan and his dreaded cell phone, which is like a character unto itself. A dirtbag lawyer in the midst of some crisis, he can barely take a moment away from his phone in to discuss his kid's actions. When he is drawn away from work, his input is poisonous, manipulative, and designed to expose everyone in the room as frauds. That includes his own wife, who is so uptight the stick up her butt has a stick up it's own butt. As the tensions mount, polite tea and coffee turns to hard liquor, which leads to things getting destroyed and classic books getting a fresh coat of vomit. Alan, who claims to believe in the "god of carnage" finishes with everyone in the room, nobody is the same as they were in the beginning.
After awhile you start to wonder why, with things clearly going so wrong, do Nancy and Alan choose to stay? There's always something that conveniently stops, and it's the one aspect that doesn't feel true.
All of the performances are perfectly on point, and you can tell all involved are relishing the chance to play such terrible people. The same goes for Polanski, who manages to keep this single-room comedy fresh and fast paced for 80 minutes. Carnage isn't a particularly deep film, however, and chances are in a few months you'll barely remember what everyone was fussing about.
