R, 1 hr. 20 min. Directed By:
Roman Polanski. In Theaters: Dec 16, 2011.
On DVD: Mar 20, 2012.
Carnage
is an interesting movie. It bills itself
as a “black comedy” a genre which I think really doesn’t have a single
definition. In very vague terms I’d
accept a black comedy as a movie that finds humor in situations that we are not
socially prepared to accept as humorous.
Funerals are an obvious choice as a setting for a black comedies, as are
murders and various other violent crimes.
However, for a movie to be a black comedy, there has to be some comedy,
and I think it was a little lacking until the last… 20 minutes or so of the run
time.
But, I’ll give credit where credit’s due: when this movie gets funny, it gets really
funny. As soon as the bottle of scotch
comes out, the four-person cast does an excellent job portraying the transition
from sober to schnockered, and the claws that have been politely sheathed
during this borderline civil conversation come out to play. Jodie Foster’s Penelope, in particular, makes
a startling transition from mild-mannered, socially conscious woman to raving
lunatic in just a few shots.
I’d heard a few things about Carnage back when it was one of the sources of film ‘buzz’. Most of what I heard was vaguely negatively,
a little was vaguely positive, but no one wanted to come out and just say
either “hey, I loved this,” or “this stunk soooo bad.” I get why now, and I think this is an example
of the movie that made me chose to rate on two factors: my gut reaction to the movie and my head’s
reaction.
I can’t complain about the techniques used to put
this movie together. Jodie Foster and
Kate Winslet were amazing. John C. Reilly and Christoph Waltz were very
good. The scenes feel awkward, or
out-of-control, or out-of-control amusing as they would in real life when this
kind of thing happens. It’s a movie that
speaks quiet volumes about what has become of parenting in America, and what
kind of behavior parents are prepared to accept from their children. It’s not a nice picture. The ending suggests that frequently children
are more capable of handling conflict than their parents. The movie is set in a single New York
apartment, smallish, and the scenes are shot well enough (and have enough
movement in them) for the audience not to feel stifled by the closeness.
But this wans’t really an enjoyable movie from an
entertainment perspective. It wasn’t
fun, even when humor was being attempted.
There were no light-hearted moments to help us pretend that this wasn’t
awkward, and that we were comfortable with the discussion between two sets of
parents. I crossed this off my list of
‘to see’ movies from 2011, but I’m not real happy about having seen it. I guess it’s safe to say that there was no
emotional satisfaction from having watched this.
But what it lacks in entertainment is more than made
up by intellectual fulfillment. If
you’re looking for something that’s a bit heavy and serious, this would be a
good place to look.
