Oct 19, 2011

Carnage [2011]


4th movie at the London Film Festival and I am still loving it! Today I went to see Carnage!

I must admit, from the beginning, that I am not familiar with Roman Polanski's work, but if the rest of his movies are similar to this one, I am willing to give a try.

I never thought you can have an interesting movie, with smart, funny lines and great characters, in only one location- an apartment! 90 minutes and I think I took only one look at my watch! Carnage was amazing and all due to the 4 main actors: Christopher Waltz, Kate Winslet, Jodie Foster and John C.Reily.

They take the film to the next level and carry the action, the entertainment and the drama. It is a tough job, but they are great at it. Waltz and Foster and perfect and give a wonderful performance, while Reily and Winslet are strong, as well, but they don't over shine the first two. I can't explain the characters here because you learn so much about them in 90 minutes- I would spoil you the fun of discovering them for yourself, which you should definitely do!

Clearly, the script is derived by a play, The God of Carnage, which Polanski adapted to the big screen. As you might think, normally, 90 minutes in one location is a very though thing to shoot, especially if you plan to keep the attention of the audience. They are very few movies who dare to do that (Phonebooth sounds similar and it worked there, as well, as I recall), but he manages to do that in a beautiful manner, relaying only on his actors and quick paced script.

Overall, it is a good movie and you should definitely give it a try! It is an interesting experience!

10 comments:

  1. I sometimes enjoy film with lots of dialogue, so want to see Carnage. I'm liking the poster a lot! Thanks for recommending ( :

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  2. The poster is great and it tells a lot about the movie, especially what to expect! You can really see the characters developing in this story, you should check it out! Thanks for dropping by, yet again! :)

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  3. I cannot tell you how jealous I am that you've already seen this movie.

    Lucky!

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  4. Yeah, I guess!:)Hope you will see it soon! Thanks!

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  5. I too am jealous that you've already gotten to see this film. I like movies where the characters reveal themselves over time, so this one seems right up my alley. And the cast looks amazing.

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  6. The cast is really fantastic! They all did a wonderdul job and the best part is, for 90 minutes in one apartment, it's very entertaining! You should see it when you have chance!

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  7. I recently watched this movie and enjoyed most everything you did, but the ending (or lack thereof) was utter nonsense. Nearly ruined the film for me.

    I don't know if you've seen any Polanski since posting this, but Carnage wasn't like his other movies. He's had an evolving career making films of multiple genres, but the only real similarity between Carnage and the rest of his work is his cynical sense of humor.

    If you haven't seen The Pianist, do. It's a masterpiece. Also, Chinatown, and Knife in the Water. Okay I'm done.

    ...and Repulsion.

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  8. Thanks Alex, I will, the Pianist and Chinatown have been on my To See list for a long time!

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  9. I finally got to see this one and really enjoyed it. You are quite right that we aren't used to seeing characters in a single setting like this, and there is a way that I can see this actually working even better in the play format, where the set might seem more natural.

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  10. @NeverTooEarlyMP: Like, I said, it would fit better in a play format, but the movie was great, too! Thanks!

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