Roman Polanski’s (The Pianist, Rosemary’s Baby) star-studded Carnage, a movie adapted from the successful Tony Award Winning God of Carnage, translates on the big screen as unsuccessfully as the play, I imagine at least) plays successfully on stage. I envision Yasmina Reza written One Act as an intriguing character study that unfolds before our eyes on stage, something we don’t get much chance to see in a play. Though I have not seen God of Carnage and do not plan on doing so, I imagine it as being similar to Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman in the sense that there are just a few characters which, in turn, allows us to see these characters developed deeper and in a more meaningful way than would a play like Romeo and Juliet. The whole time I was watching this movie, I kept asking myself why this play was made into a film and how it drew the interest of Polanski and the four (including three Academy Award Winning) actors. As a play, I envision this being great. As a movie, I asked myself, “Why?”.
The movie, which is played out in real-time, revolves around two couples who are brought together after Ethan, the 11-year-old son of Penelope (Jodie Foster – The Silence of the Lambs, Taxi Driver) and Michael Longstreet (John C. Reilly – Step Brothers, The Perfect Storm) is stuck in the mouth in the mouth with a stick during a playground altercation by Zachary, the 11-year-old son of Nancy (Kate Winslet – Titanic, The Reader) and Alan Cowan (Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Bastards, Water For Elephants). The movie begins when the Cowans are at the Longstreets writing a joint statement describing the events. All four adults agree that the act was regrettable, and the Cowans don’t deny that their son is at fault for the accident, which resulted in Ethan losing two teeth. The entire movie takes place in the Longstreets’ apartment and the hallway just outside of their apartment. The back-and-forth dialogue between all four adults goes from humorousness at one moment to uncomfortable the next. Over the 80 minutes, the atmosphere in the room goes from lighthearted to tension so thick that you could almost cut it with a knife. The characters go from over-the-top friendly and as tactful as humanly possible to cynical, forthright, and almost cutthroat by the end of it.
The only thing I liked was how well we got to know each of the four characters. Developing a single character in a movie can be challenging for many directors. It’s not like a television show where you have 25-30 times each year to develop a character. You’ve got 90-120 minutes in a movie to tell a story, develop characters, create interest, take us to some climax, and then offer resolve. In Carnage, the story is straightforward. It takes no more than a minute to describe. The interest is supposed to be the dialog between the characters. The climax is supposed to be the characters showing their truest sense of self. There is no real resolve. So if the story is weak, there is little interest, a climax that we don’t care about, and an ending with no conclusion, why watch the movie? It’s a great question. One that I asked myself many times. And the answer to that question is not necessarily the acting as much as it is the development of the characters. So we go from seeing each character presenting a false front (considering the reason they are brought together in the first place) to understanding the ins and outs of each of the four stars.
When I think of the talent used in this movie, I think of all the other movies they could be making individually. Foster felt totally out of place in Carnage, while Winslet, at the height of her acting career, shouldn’t be wasting her time with this script. Reilly was outmatched by his peers and at to overact to try and keep up. The only person who appeared natural was Waltz, a greedy corporate lawyer, who has 10-15 different phone conversations during the 80-minute film. I understand Reilly (having the opportunity to do a movie with four other Academy Award winners) and Waltz, who, despite his age, is in the infancy of his movie career, would want to be part of this film. I can understand Foster and Winslet wishing to work with Polanski, but I’m starting to think they agreed to work with him. Polanski has directed some of the most influential and memorable films of our lifetime, including Chinatown, Rosemary’s Baby, The Pianist, Tess. Film lovers of the next generation will scroll through his filmography, stumble upon Carnage and wonder what he was doing, wasting his time with something so simple something that lacks such purpose.
Unless you are into really examining the development of characters, I’d avoid this movie.
Plot 5/10
Character Development 10/10 (this is the only reason to watch the movie)
Character Chemistry 8/10
Acting 7/10 (considering the firepower, this should have been a 10, but the dialog was either forced or rushed, and this was noticeable by all)
Screenplay 8/10 (I’m sure this is a fabulous play, but it doesn’t work as a movie)
Directing 5/10 (a waste of time for such a talented director)
Cinematography 6/10
Sound 6/10
Hook and Reel 3/10
Universal Relevance 5/10
63%
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