Carnage (2011) – I
was actually quite proud of myself on this one because I didn’t let Roman
Polanski’s repugnant past impede my enjoyment of Carnage, an adaptation of the Yasmina Reza play. Instead, I found myself won over by four
immensely compelling performances. Jodie
Foster & John C. Reilly play the parents of a boy struck by the son of
another couple, Kate Winslet & Christoph Waltz. 12 Angry Men fans will likely relish the insular nature of the film, whose
action takes place solely within one apartment and its connecting hallway. This cinematic claustrophobia permits the performances
to, pardon the pun, take center stage.
Quickly we see that the ceremony on which the couples stand is a
precarious peace predicated on the perpetuation of pretty faces and posturing;
Foster’s performance is a bold one as she breaks down and exposes the degree to
which her character is entirely full of herself by blubbering through
self-satisfied liberal platitudes, while Reilly reveals the polar opposite, a
suppressed John Wayne sublimated by his wife’s feelgoodery. Across the table, Winslet and Waltz are
pitch-perfect as self-righteous and condescending spouses who can barely say
two words to each other without making a phone call or, quite literally,
throwing up. Waltz is the only one who
seems to resist epiphany here, his eye rolls and workaholic behavior an
interesting type apart from his talky Tarantino turns. It’s not that Foster and Reilly are bad, but
Winslet and Waltz are in a stratosphere all their own, though they know how to
let the other members of the ensemble take the screen back when need be. An incisive look at how the hot-button issue
of bullying may be a load of grandstanding and self-righteousness, Carnage is smart and delightful, four
tour-de-force performances in a riveting bundle.That does it for this week’s edition of “Monday at the Movies.” We’ll see you here next week, and don’t forget that this Thursday is the Double-Oh-Seventh of the month...!
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