Carnage

 

 

  Carnage captures 79 real time minutes of the meeting of two well-to- do couples in a New York apartment. Discussing an assault on the host’s son, it soon descends into claustrophobic tension as the action unfolds in one room.Tears, vomit and full blown arguments follow. The comedic and domestically dramatic scenes generate an authenticity we’ve come to expect from the director of Rosemary’s Baby and The Pianist. With perfect comic timing the three well known names, alongside Christoph Waltz, execute the situation with the realism and lack of glamour required. Kate Winslet excels as Waltz’s long-suffering wife, and Jodie Foster is similarly captivating as the driving force for the meeting against the meagre protestations of her husband (John C. Reilly), the character perhaps the most difficult to sympathise with out of the four. The enclosed setting of the film echoes its origins as a play, The God of Carnage, and this connection is hard to escape throughout – the translation from stage to screen appearing slightly tenuous at times. Despite this, the constantly heightening drama and the strength of the characters as identifiable individuals definitely places Carnage into the category of interesting and attention grabbing viewing.