Carnage (2011)

Two pairs of parents hold a cordial meeting after their sons are involved in a fight, though as their time together progresses, increasingly childish behavior throws the discussion into chaos.

Director:

Roman Polanski

Writers:

Yasmina Reza (play), Yasmina Reza (screenplay)

Stars:

Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 7 wins & 18 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview:
Jodie Foster	...	Penelope Longstreet
Kate Winslet	...	Nancy Cowan
Christoph Waltz	...	Alan Cowan
John C. Reilly	...	Michael Longstreet
Elvis Polanski	...	Zachary Cowan
Eliot Berger	...	Ethan Longstreet
Joseph Rezwin	...	Walter (voice) (as Joe Rezwin)
Nathan Rippy	...	Dennis (voice)
Tanya Lopert	...	Michael's Mother (Telephone Voice) (voice)
Julie Adams	...	Secretary (voice)

Storyline

In New York's Brooklyn Bridge park, eleven year old Zachary strikes his eleven year old classmate Ethan. The boy's parents learn of the fight and meet to deal with the incident. Although the meeting starts civilized, it quickly degenerates after an unfortunate incident, and soon, their meeting is not only about their boys' fight, but also the couple's fitness as parents,

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Plot Keywords:

single set production | small cast | black pantyhose | female stockinged legs | female stockinged feet | 

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Taglines:

A new comedy of no manners.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

France Germany Poland Spain USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 November 2011 (Spain)

Also Known As:

God of Carnage

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$79,795, 18 December 2011, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$2,547,047, 3 May 2012

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$27,603,069, 3 May 2012

Company Credits

Production Co:

SBS Productions, Constantin Film, SPI Film Studio

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film was shot in real time, without breaks and, with the exception of the park scenes, in a single location.

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Goofs

At the beginning of the film, just before Alan and Nancy try to leave for the second time, there is a camera visible in the mirror.

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Quotes

Nancy Cowan: I've got a John Wayne idea of manhood, too. What is it he had? A Colt .45. Something that empties a room. Any man that doesn't have those loner vibes just doesn't come off as having any substance.

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Connections

Featured in The Graham Norton Show: Kate Winslet/Jamie Bell/Rob Brydon/Noah & the Whale (2011)

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Soundtracks

A Bushel and a Peck
Written by Frank Loesser

User Reviews

Carnage

Size matters, right? even for Roman, after the brilliantly intricacy-crafted THE GHOST WRITER (2010), the scale of CARNAGE shrinks just like a hors d'oeuvre, no wonder its lukewarm feedback is percolating in spite of the lure of 4 Oscar-bounded leading thespians. Actually the response is par for the course, the film hinges on a more stringent time schedule (literally the exact time audience spends in front of the big screen), which is too featherweight to be considered seriously for the Oscar race (referring to other play-adapted Oscar dearest CLOSER 2004 or DOUBT 2008, both at least possess a decent time span), but which doesn't thwart all the fun one could obtain from a feature film.

The disintegration of these two pairs of parents is intrigued bit by bit with derision, insult and disdain, the initial wrangle of two flatly unfamiliar couples are reflecting everyone's customary procedure of dealing with strangers, the approach of eclipsing others in a restrained manner in order not to break a fragile bottom line "our face of respect", and once Nancy (Kate Winslet's character) has lost her face with a hilarious vomit to all the civil pretentiousness, the battle of matrimony, sex, social supremacy and civil wit is officially instigated, the carnage of verbal assaults prevails and within a compact 80 minutes, the dialogues are drolly sharp and incisive, wounds are acute without bleeding,

The grand cast is beyond any accomplishment, Jodie Foster manifests her excellent curb in melodrama in many years though is a shade over-the-top during the end and Kate Winslet never mislead her devotees albeit being self-conscious in sundry scenes, Christoph Waltz fiendishly holds his introvert nature all the time while being socially authentic; arguably the weakest line, john C. Reilly is in his comfort zone to liberate the venom under his goody-goody disguise.

One big plus is the film ends ideally when the fray starts to become stale, so Polanski is still as crafty as any filmmakers could ever wish for.