Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 6:15PM Movie Review: 'Carnage'
| Carnage
Starring Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz and John C. Reilly
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Where would we see the clashes of parenting styles imbued with the particulars of words as weapons? Only in Carnage, a Roman Polanski film. Based on the play ‘Le Dieu du carnage’ (translated to: The God of Carnage) by Yasmina Reza, who co-wrote the screenplay with Polanski, focuses on the Longstreet’s and the Cowan’s begin a civilized conversation about their children getting into a schoolyard fight and as the threads become loosened, they begin fighting with each other. No better than what they sought out to resolve, their qualms begin to get the better of them.
The film is focused on the particulars of words, their affect and the way they portray the individual into a certain light or defined characteristic. Kate Winslet is Nancy Cowan; the seemingly uptight and reserved mother of Zachary whose father, Alan Cowan (Christoph Waltz) is the not-nearly apathetic lawyer who believes his child is monstrous. Jodie Foster plays indignant Penelope Longstreet, mother to victimized Ethan, who insinuates the nuances of words with Alan, while father Michael Longstreet (John C. Reilly) tries to please everyone until he can no longer hide his true self.
