Carnage (2011)

This was a great and fun/funny film. A drama where two kids parents meet at ones apartment to decide "how to handle" the situation where one of the boys hit another boy with a stick, knocking out teeth. Who's fault was it? Who should apologize to whom? Should the parents get involved? Should they also take responsibility for their kids aggression and the others timidness? We learn the issue of aggression and short comings might be more so with the parents, than with the kids. And that poor hamster? A film by Roman Polanski, more so a short dinner theater type play brought to film. The shortest film I've seen in a theater. 1 hr 15 min. But great stars, fun plot. Things go from simple casual attempt(s) between two sets of parents with coming to an agreement concerning responsibility for their kids actions, to the parents engaged in something close to total WWIII. With a little apple cobbler tossed in (and up) along with way, plus way too many social cocktails in the mix. And a busy cell phone adding to the never ending comedy-drama.

With stars this wonderful, this film is a must see hit. And again... that poor hamster.

There are great court room dramas that keep you engaged. This is not a court room drama, but equal to such as a social drama between agreeing/disagreeing, then agreeing then back to disagreeing sets of parents.

With everyone carrying, then unloading, a lot of psychological baggage.

And YOU are the fly on the wall.

Great! Very fun! Interesting! Too short. I wanted more, a lot more. But what Roman Polanski gives us is totally worth experiencing.

Great directing mixed with great actors/acting really does make the difference.

NOTE: And just who was that peeking out the next door apartment at all the ruckus going on in the hall way? Could it have been by chance a VERY FAMOUS DIRECTOR's face????

And no... it wasn't Alfred Hitchcock. lol

What a good film. What good acting. Great stars. Great director. Great directing. But I'd totally skip the cobbler...

So what happens in NYC when parents of two boys decide to have a private meeting in order to resolve a conflict between their children? Meet two couples, who are equally concerned about well being of their 11 year old sons. Two boys got into a fight and the fight got physical. Before long, one boy is grounded and another one nearly looses his tooth. Surely, these young people need to be punished and thought a lesson; so their parents decide to meet and assess what to do next.

The entire movie is entirely set in a NYC apartment of one of the couples. It starts as civil and cordial meeting between two pairs of concerned parents and turns into, well carnage. In nearly two hours, we see these four people fighting it out with each other in words. It starts as one pair of parents against the other, but then lines become blurry as aliences between them start to shift. Every now and then, pairs would re-group, but then things would fall into a chaos again. It is witty, contemporary story about modern life, alienation between people, parents and their children; greed, glutony, assessment of our priorities and purpose in middle life. Great cast of actors, wonderful verbal duels. I truly enjoyed this movie. I always loved Roman Polanski's movies and this one adds to the wonderful collection of his already prized work.

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"Carnage" opens like the play it is adapted from and is directed by Roman Polanski. Penelope Longstreet (Jodie Foster) along with husband Michael (John C. Reilly) invite the Cowans to their apartment; Nancy (Kate Winslet) and her work-consumed husband, Christoph Waltz.

The Longstreets feel it necessary to discuss the reason why their "victim" son was struck, and badly hurt, by the "maniac brutalizer" Cowan's son. Michael would simply appreciate an apology from their child, although Penelope seems to have her own agenda and intends to push it.

Penelope and Nancy have a tremendous amount of tension between them which is palpable from the onset. Michael appears personable, overly generous and friendly ... at first. Mr. Cowan is on the cell phone constantly as a pharmaceutical lawyer and much more absent in the genesis of the conversation.

The 'go-around' all plays out in the living room as you can sense the air suck right out of the room. It becomes almost claustrophobic, in feel, as the couples begin wildly talking, accusing, and definitely getting far off-the-topic of their sons.

In this obvious stress inducing situation, especially for Nancy and then Penelope, anxiety builds and the topics get verbally and emotionally out of control. The discussion of the children's situation is quickly set aside, as marital issues insidiously invade the 'conversation'. More like spouting-offs!

The husbands slowly get involved, by first defending their wives, arguing with each other and then challenging each other. The 'Scotch' comes on the scene, as they decide it would be a great time to take a vintage bottle out for a ride. Nancy demands a drink of her own, while defending Penelope, and challenges a reluctant Michael to pour his wife some also.

Alliances are formed and broken then reattached almost as fast as the mercurial, rapid-fire dialogue. The words are shot between them as bullets from a gun and land as caustically. The husbands start to turn on their wives while getting pretty frustrated; "you think too much...women think too much" and "yes, I feel like being completely despicable".

The talking and commenting becomes amazingly ludicrous in the verbal smack-down. All four actors are on top of their game in this; tightly wound, inflammatory, taut and hilarious 'study', as one topic is flying into another then back again.

At the very end of the film, before the credits roll, there is one of the best scenes for tying-up all the loose ends and a good shot in the arm of laughter for myself. It does put seemingly huge things in perspective in a very scant amount of time.

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I though this was one of those slasher movies until I saw the names of the stars. This is actually very similar to the classic Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Two-Disc Special Edition). All of the action takes place during one afternoon after a schoolyard fight between two boys leads to a meeting between both sets of parents to settle the tiff. Very different socially, the two couples at first perform the usual polite dance of parents everywhere, trying to remain polite and civil. A bottle of single-malt scotch, and some expensive cigars, lead to a loosening of social norms and shifting alliances among the group. I found this to be among the most intelligent films that I have seen in quite some time, especially since it is not an "art film" and is readily accessible to a mass audience. This is like attending a well done one act play right in your living room.

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...despite his, er, private behavior, but gah! What awful people. Yes, it was funny in a very, very unpleasant way, but I think I watched it with an expression of horrified disgust pasted to my face. Don't we all know people like this? Completely tense, unable to stop the diarrhea of boring small talk about cobbler recipes and toilet parts while their restrained hostility growls audibly below the polite chatter? I felt like taking a hot bath after watching this. Yes, and becoming a hermit in a cave somewhere so I'd never have to see a human being again.

I will never, ever watch this movie again; it was like fingernails on a blackboard to me. And yet it was a great movie. I saw no flaw in the acting or direction. There was an ugly fascination in seeing how four people could all be arrogant bourgeois thugs, yet so different. Four different shades of awful.

I loved the hilarious irony of the scene in the park as the credits roll. You could almost miss it, but it beautifully sums up the ludicrousness of the situation that has just played out between the four adults.

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