Last nights Lovefilm offering was "Carnage" a four person ensemble piece directed by Roman Polanski and starring Jodie Foster, Kate Wislett, John C Reilly and Christoph Waltz. The premise is very slight, two very civilised New York couples meet to discuss an act of playground violence between their children. Starting from a reasonable middle class desire to resolve the matter, a series of events and an excess of alcohol lead the couple to reveal their much less civilised inner selves. It's based on a stage play, and Polanski wisely makes no attempt to open it out, so it remains a very tight, well written and brilliantly acted four hander.
The obvious comparisons that spring to mind are with "Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf" and "Abigail's Party", though that doesn't quite do it justice, though the revelations and the vitriol of the conversations are similar in nature to Burton and Taylor in full flow, whilst some of the middle class attitudes are as cringe worthy as those in "Abigail's Party". Carnage, like these films is very very funny, but the humour derives from the attitudes and shifting relations between the four charactors rather than the wit of the script.
Edited: 17/11/2012 at 10:38
