If you’re in the mood to catch four decorated actors and actresses lose their collective… um, composure onscreen, then Roman Polanski’s Carnage could be exactly what you’re looking for.
An international trailer has been released for Polanski’s adaptation of Yasmina Reza’s acclaimed play, “God of Carnage”, a darkly satirical piece that revolves around a pair of upper-class New York couples whose attempts to resolve an issue in a civilized fashion quickly fly off the tracks.
Jodie Foster and John C. Reilly star in Carnage as Penelope and Michael, a married couple whose young son was hurt by the son of fellow rich and “sophisticated” couple, Nancy (Kate Winslet) and Alan (Christoph Waltz). The four of them meet together in the former’s apartment, in order to handle the situation with a delicate hand.
However, after about an hour or so of clashing views, consuming alcohol, and Alan’s constantly buzzing cellphone, things go (hilariously) wrong – and the gloves comes off, as the four adults break out into a take-no-prisoners verbal cat fight.
Check out the international Carnage trailer (note: it has some NSFW language) below:
Carnage could be one of Polanski’s more flat-out entertaining efforts with award potential released in a long time. It’s all the funnier to watch the film’s characters transition from acting posh and polite to juvenile and coming up with creative ways to slur one another (Winslet’s “human rights” line is definitely worth a chuckle) when you remember that the cast portraying them has won four Academy Awards in total. Needless to say, this ain’t your average piece of Oscar bait.
Waltz has certainly had an interesting year, between this and his roles in The Green Hornet, Water for Elephants, and this fall’s Three Musketeers; his turn as Michael in Carnage could be his best of the lot, allowing him to pull off the mix of sophistication and sadism, similar to that which he managed so well in Inglourious Basterds.
Foster and Winslet, by comparison, both look to have fun, playing “perfect” wives who finally begin to unravel at the seams. Reilly, the only cast member without an Oscar statuette, also appears solid as Penelope’s ineffective-but-angry husband.
There’s clearly a timely political subtext to all the madness in Carnage, which both mocks and examines its characters’ attempts to reach a compromise with one another, even though they’re all ultimately looking to get exactly what they want. Single-location films can be a tricky act to pull off, but the amusing incongruity between the fancy surroundings of the setting (Penelope and Alan’s apartment) and the behavior of its inhabitants seems to also work quite well.
Carnage begins a limited theatrical release in the U.S. on December 16th, 2011.
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