Carnage is a film about four people who hate each other and are unable to leave the room. Sometimes they make it far as the door and once or twice to the lift Barry Bonds Womens Jersey , though on each occasion they are pulled back by the unfinished business of their exquisite loathing and bitter contempt. With this stealthy adaptation of the Yasmina Reza stage play, director Roman Polanski has rustled up a pitch-black farce of the charmless bourgeoisie that is indulgent, actorly and so unbearably tense I found myself gulping for air and praying for release. Hang on to your armrest and break out the scotch. These people are about to go off like Roman candles.
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Jodie Foster and John C Reilly respectively play Penelope and Michael, a pair of bohemian Brooklynites whose 11-year-old son was attacked in the local park. Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz (sporting a passable American accent) are Nancy and Alan, the parents of the culprit Willie Mays Womens Jersey , supposedly visiting to make the peace. But with the battle lines drawn across the coffee table (replete with vase of tulips and Oskar Kokoschka art book) we swiftly realise that there are to be no heroes in this war: no one to rally behind and urge on to victory. Not passive-aggressive Penny or the blusteringly insensitive Michael, who blithely admits to having thrown his daughter鈥檚 beloved hamster out on the street 鈥渁s though it were a sewer rat鈥? And certainly not the brittle, mean-spirited Nancy, or Alan, a cold-blooded Madison Bumgarner Authentic Jersey , misogynist lawyer on whom the movie lavishes all the best lines.
In a career stretching back through The Tenant, Repulsion and Knife in the Water, Polanski has proved himself a master at these kinds of claustrophobic chamber pieces. His direction is precise, unfussy and utterly fit for purpose, prowling the four walls of an apartment that was entirely constructed on a Paris soundstage and allowing the action to play out in real time Brandon Crawford Authentic Jersey , with no respite. If Carnage has a flaw, it could be that Polanski鈥檚 apparent sympathy for Alan at times threatens to throw out the film鈥檚 delicate, four-way balance. Arguably, it does turn a shade too shrill 鈥?and therefore too obviously farcical 鈥?in the final stretch, once the alcohol has been brought out and the mobile phone dumped in the vase of water.
That aside Buster Posey Authentic Jersey , the film barely puts a foot wrong. The acting comes at full throttle while the pacing cranks up the tension in agonising, incremental degrees. At one point this is all too much for Nancy, who proceeds to vomit copiously over the coffee table, coating Penelope鈥檚 cherished Oskar Kokoschka book. It is an astonishing scene, an icebreaker like no other. And at the Venice screening Joe Panik Authentic Jersey , the viewers greeted it with a wild abandon, howling with delight and applauding like thunder, perhaps relieved that someone had cracked before they did themselves.
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Two 11-year-old boys get into a violent playground fight that leads to their parents meeting to discuss how to handle the situation. Alan and Nancy Cowan (Christoph Waltz, Kate Winslet) come to the Brooklyn apartment of Penelope and Michael Longstreet (Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly) after their boy struck the Longstreet鈥檚 son Ethan with a stick Brandon Belt Authentic Jersey , but what starts as a friendly agreement to try to work things out turns into a angry yelling match as four very different people try to get on the same page.
Analysis:
The decision to bring a stageplay to the screen and how far to take it away from just being people talking in a room has produced many interesting results, and it鈥檚 strange seeing Roman Polanski鈥檚 adaptation of playwright Yasmina Reza鈥檚 four-handed play 鈥淕od of Carnage鈥?in such proximity to George Clooney鈥檚 鈥淭he Ides of March鈥?and David Cronenberg鈥檚 鈥淎 Dangerous Method,鈥?which both go to greater efforts to break away from the stageplay feel of their source material. One might think the shortened title of 鈥淐arnage鈥?might mean Polanski鈥檚 film is very different from the stageplay but other than bringing together four incredible actors in Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, John C. Reilly and Christoph Waltz Hunter Pence Authentic Jersey , it never strays from the one Brooklyn apartment where this story takes place.
The film opens with the credits rolling over a simple scene in a park with Manhattan in the background with a group of kids playing that leads to an altercation between the two of them ending in a violent act. It鈥檚 a serious incident that has the parents of one boy visiting the other to work out how to handle the situation and it deteriorates from there.
Penelope and Michael Longstreet (Foster, Reilly) are the parents of the injured boy, portraying themselves as sensitive liberal art lovers who hope the parents of the boy who struck their son will help resolve matters. Waltz鈥檚 Alan Cowan is a high-powered corporate lawyer working on a case against a pharmaceutical company, so every couple of minutes, their conversation is interrupted by his BlackBerry with a business call Barry Bonds Authentic Jersey , something that adds greatly to the tension between them.
In any other time or place, these four people might be the best of friends despite meeting under such unpleasant circumstances. Their first encounter starts out polite enough but the longer they spend together, the faster things deteriorate and the more hilarious things get. Alan and Nancy keep trying to leave, first when things seem to be resolved then later as they鈥檙e angered by the accusations about their son鈥檚 behavior. They keep being convinced to return to the lion鈥檚 den where a pleasant cup of coffee turns into another argument. By the third or fourth time they鈥檝e been convinced to return, the four of them are drinking Scotch Willie Mays Authentic Jersey , which is when it turns into an ugly verbal brawl with the sides no longer as easily delineated.