Carnage
2011 Directed by Roman Polanski
Synopsis
A new comedy of no manners
In Brooklyn Bridge Park, eleven year old Zachary Cowan strikes his eleven year old classmate Ethan Longstreet across the face with a stick after an argument. Among the more serious of Ethan's injuries is a permanently missing tooth and the possibility of a second tooth also being lost. Their respective parents learn of the altercation through Ethan's parents questioning him about his injuries. The Longstreet parents invite the Cowan parents to their Brooklyn apartment to deal with the incident in a civilized manner. They are: Penelope Longstreet, whose idea it was to invite the Cowans, she whose priorities in life include human rights and justice; Michael Longstreet, who tries to be as accommodating as possible to retain civility in any situation; Nancy Cowan, a nervous and emotionally stressed woman; and Alan Cowan, who is married more to his work as evidenced by the attachment he has to his cell phone and taking work calls at the most inopportune times.
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Language. It can be used to create and to destroy. For me that's what this film was all about.
We see four people who slowly strip away social conventions and eventually show their true selves, all because of the incessant need to talk, justify oneself and outwit others.
You cannot get around the fact that this is a play. One location, four actors and an insane amount of dialogue. For a film like this to work the acting has to be perfect. And it is. All four of them are absolutely fantastic, they portray the slow descent into social and moral ambiguity in such a way that, although the characters are somewhat stereotypical, you always get the feeling you're watching…
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This is truly one of the most violent movies that I have come across. Violence in the sense which considers human emotions. The true colour, savageness,guilt,anger,ego,superficial empathy, crookedness, disgust that human beings have as their innate nature are shown in full glory here. All the leads are excellent. Foster does too much sometimes. But waltz and Reilly truly steal the show. I am searching for a single word which best describes the movie. But I dont seem to get it. Oh wait I got it. Its CARNAGE.
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I enjoyed this one. The performances are good, and the gradual breakdown in civility between the two couples featured due to an incident between their children is often hilarious. Plus it's worth seeing for Christoph Waltz alone.
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Carnage is one of those films where you should not watch any of the trailers and just go in fresh. If the name of director Roman Polanski doesn't convince you, the others, four of the top-notch actors working in Hollywood today, won't either. Polanski's directing is solid and gives the actors enough space in the cozy living room so that within minutes of this chamber play, the illusion of civilization is blown away by the sheer egotism of its characters. Even Foster's do-gooder, constantly and hilariously enlonging the original set-up, ultimately seeks the apology for her own well-being with the world and not because her son craves it. But the others don't come short. Waltz is instantly spot-on, visually enjoying…
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Wonderfully acted. I can comfortably say that this is the most uncomfortable movie of all time. Awesome.
The story was so well written. Seeing how the two couples change sides constantly and become constantly more inebriated is hillariously perfect. Not a Polanski fan, and nothing he did stuck out to me. I can only imagine what could have been done with this in the hands of a better director.
Yeah, I said it.
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One of the better comedies in the past decade, effortlessly entertaining. Doesn't try hard to be funny just keeps to it's structures not doing anything too fancy, a sensational ensemble of actors doing what they do best in front of the camera. Not many comedies are highly regarded or rated amongst the best films in history, this may not be the best in history but surely must be considered as the best comedy.
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Wonderfully acted. I can comfortably say that this is the most uncomfortable movie of all time. Awesome.
The story was so well written. Seeing how the two couples change sides constantly and become constantly more inebriated is hillariously perfect. Not a Polanski fan, and nothing he did stuck out to me. I can only imagine what could have been done with this in the hands of a better director.
Yeah, I said it.
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This was actually pretty hilarious. The humour was right up my alley. It did get a little ridiculous near the end, but it felt entirely warranted considering the rest of the film. The acting was top notch, especially considering that the dialogue felt a little clunky in places -- Foster, Reilly, Winslet, and Waltz all did a superb job. I'd love to see the play this was based off of, it'd be amazing live, I'm sure.
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I'm not gonna rate this movie as it was clearly not made for me. It took me several tries to make it through Carnage and I hated every second. It might be because of my mental condition, but these characters and their behavior made me extremely angry.
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A great adaptation of the play, the opening and closing shots are fabulous in so far as a storytelling mechanism goes. Great performance all round, a little slow at first but it ramps up towards the middle and end.
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Awful people being awful in mostly entertaining ways.
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Carnage is an interesting concept but it just wasn't funny or entertaining enough to keep me laughing from start to finish. The film was only 90 minutes long and was filmed in "real time" the whole story takes place in 90 minutes, it doesn't span over a few days, or weeks. The story starts and ends in those 90 minutes. The characters never leave the small location a tiny apartment in "New York City". If someone is claustrophobic than Carnage wouldn't be a good film to watch.
Everything about this film was perfect so you would assume I would have enjoyed it. The acting, the set, the direction by Roman etc. It just wasn't an interesting enough plot and the…
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It comes as no surprise that Carnage was adapted from a theatrical play… if it quacks like a duck…..
What is a surprise is that the film is so totally unbelievable. Not in the setup, nor that the “civility” gets tossed to the curb, but in the action that transpires. I was left thinking several times that there was no way I would have remained in the room to suffer the verbal abuse tossed around so effortlessly.
Too bad, because this film comes with a high pedigree. Roman Polanski is at the helm, both as director and co-writer of the script (along with the original playwrite). The quartet of actors are all in top form, and yet the film fails…
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Brilliantly savage comedy of middle class manners. Bourgeois sensibilities are gradually torn down as the two couples are unable to agree on a dispute involving their 11 year old sons. Impeccably performed by all 4 actors but Waltz and Reilly steal the show. Reilly is particularly fantastic.
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Having been adapted from a play, this film relies solely on performance, so it's lucky the performances hold up.
However, you can't forget this script is adapted from a play, and the only thing that makes it worthwhile as a film are the stars and the opportunity to integrate some good cinematography to the project.
Regardless of this, I got really involved in it. I loath the importance of consumerism to modern society, the obsession with material possessions, women who think they can dominate everyone else's lives, and all this subtly came up here. It demonstrates a lot of things that are wrong in today's society.
Great performances, great script. But most likely better kept behind the red curtains rather than on the big screen.