Carnage (2011)
Directed by Roman Polanski
Two pairs of parents hold a cordial meeting after their sons are involved in a fight, though as their time together progresses, increasingly childish behavior throws the discussion into chaos.
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Too bad it gets repetitious, but not in a good way, like, say, Luis Buñuel's The Exterminating Angel.
And strangely—as if the characters were trapped in Luis Buñuel’s The Exterminating Angel (1962)—the Cowans appear to be unable to leave the Longstreets’ apartment.
Watching "Carnage," I couldn't help thinking about, in reverse alphabetical order, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," "Six Degrees of Separation," "Lord of the Flies" and "The Exterminating Angel."
As for Polanski, he masterfully orchestrates all the mind-game mayhem — at times, the scenario recalls a more grounded version of Luis Bunuel's surrealist romps The Exterminating Angel and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie — although he above all filmmakers constantly reminds us how important it is to separate the artist's personal life from his public offerings.
Then they have trouble leaving one another's company — any relation to Luis Buñuel's The Exterminating Angel is worth speculating on.
Nothing gives this trick away (the superb if limited production design is by Dean Tavoularis, of "The Godfather" and "Apocalypse Now"), but the awareness of this illusion likely helped the actors embrace the story's absurd theatrical conceit, which merges the verbal sadomasochism of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" with the why-don't- they-just-leave-the-room unreality of Buñuel's "The Exterminating Angel."
Cowriter (with 'God of Carnage' playwright Yasmina Reza)/director Roman Polanski brings the much ballyhooed European and Broadway play to the screen in a stagebound adaptation with a terrific cast who try their best to sell contrived material obviously indebted to "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
There are far too few reasons for the four to stay in that apartment, and, worse, the final act lacks the killing blow of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,’’ a work whose DNA is inextricably wound around Reza’s dramatic structure.
Alan’s cellphone, along with Penny Longstreet’s beloved art books, are among the totems destroyed by the god of carnage in this tightly structured comedy of manners, which is roughly one part “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” and one part Luis Buñuel’s “Exterminating Angel.”
Anxious to offset her husband's rudeness, Nancy does herself no favors by overdosing on warm beverages, and before anyone can say "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," Michael breaks out the scotch, momentarily relieving the tension and lubricating them all for the next round.
Though it's not on the same lofty level, Polanski positions his two-couples-in-a-room tale as a descendant of Mike Nichols' "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
How it compares to the Broadway show I cannot say — Creative Loafing's budget inexplicably does not provide for me to stay a few days in New York to check it out firsthand — but the screen version is a tasty, wicked treat; to borrow a classic phrase from Sweet Smell of Success, it's a cookie full of arsenic.
After finally speaking up, Nancy (and here Winslet resembles not only Dennis, but Eileen Heckart's Hortense Daigle in "The Bad Seed," another stagey, campy film) doesn't feel so well and promptly vomits all over Penelope's displayed art books.
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As for Polanski, he masterfully orchestrates all the mind-game mayhem — at times, the scenario recalls a more grounded version of Luis Bunuel's surrealist romps The Exterminating Angel and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie — although he above all filmmakers constantly reminds us how important it is to separate the artist's personal life from his public offerings.
CARNAGE 3 stars (out of 4) Stars: Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, John C. Reilly, Christoph Waltz Rated: R for language How long: 1 hour 19 minutes Opens: Friday at Sundance For fans of: "My Dinner With Andre," "Crimes and Misdemeanors," PTO meetings that turn into shouting matches…
From Knife in the Water, to Repulsion, to The Tenant and The Pianist, he's a master of claustrophobic close encounters, and as such has a good time adapting Yasmin Reza's play, God of Carnage.
For that matter, the concept of characters held in some form of isolating prison runs through Polanski’s filmography from Knife in the Water (1962) through The Ghost Writer (2010).
As a director, I mean. In fact, his first feature, " Knife in the Water ," made in his sort-of native Poland in 1962, is set almost entirely on a pleasure boat owned by a quarrelling couple.
"Carnage," which won the Golden Lion for best film at the 2011 Venice Film Festival , has been talked about as a quintessential Polanski movie, perhaps because he has so often made films about sufferers in enclosed spaces (for example, "Knife in the Water," "Repulsion," "The Tenant," "Death and the Maiden," and " The Pianist ").
CHICAGO – Roman Polanski may not seem to be the first choice for a film about culture clashes in New York City but he has notable experience with dramas with only a few characters in a few locations (“Knife in the Water,” “Cul-de-sac,” “Death and the Maiden”).
He's attacked the single location problem before (in 1962's tense "Knife in the Water") and he handles the chronological aspect like a pro.
Such dynamics were big in the golden age under the watchful eye of Alfred Hitchcock (whose own “ Lifeboat ” and “ Rope ” were founded on that principal), and eventually it produced two of the best films of the 60s: “12 Angry Men,” about a jury arguing over the fate of a young man accused of murder, and “Whose Afraid of Virginia Wolf?”, where Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton exchange painful but pointed witticisms in order to undermine already-unstable psyches.
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Although he keeps it on one-set, in real time, like Hitchcock’s “Rope,” Polanski won’t be bound by the single-take technique; he mixes up angles, changes focus to emphasize characters.
Such dynamics were big in the golden age under the watchful eye of Alfred Hitchcock (whose own “ Lifeboat ” and “ Rope ” were founded on that principal), and eventually it produced two of the best films of the 60s: “12 Angry Men,” about a jury arguing over the fate of a young man accused of murder, and “Whose Afraid of Virginia Wolf?”, where Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton exchange painful but pointed witticisms in order to undermine already-unstable psyches.
Like in Hitchcock’s Rope.
Polanski has always been a master of placement in the frame; even in 1968, in Rosemary's Baby , he understood how to place Mia Farrow slightly out of frame so that the audience felt the need to lean sideways to see more of her.
You don’t need to be Sigmund Freud, however, to deduce that the master stylist who made “Rosemary’s Baby” and “Chinatown” has unfinished business with America.
Even more expansively set Polanski pictures, like his hits " Rosemary's Baby " and " Chinatown ," contain sequences in which the walls seem to be closing in on the characters and even the viewers, and his film prior to this one, " The Ghost Writer ," got a lot of mileage out of cinematically manipulating the planes of the bleakly ultra-modernist beach house in which most of its action is set.
Like its Broadway progenitor, the smartly retitled "Carnage" unfolds in something close to real time in a Brooklyn apartment, and its single-set confinement recalls Polanski's similarly claustrophobic studies of urban alienation in "Repulsion," "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Tenant."
It's lighter fare than usual for the director of "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Pianist," but there's still depth to it, as the themes at work are universal.
I can't call "Carnage" a major work at all, though when you consider such past classics as "Rosemary's Baby," " Chinatown ," "Repulsion," "The Tenant," or even last year's terrific " The Ghost Writer ," even very minor Polanski can still be a mean and frosty treat.