Carnage

Roman Polanski is a very respected director among movie lovers. Rosemary´s Baby is one of the best horror hovies of all time, and even if it is old today, the message still stay strong. I hope you all have seen Chinatown with Jack Nicholson ? One of the greatest neo-noir films of the 70´s, and Jack Nicholson did a wonderful performance as private investigator J.J ( Jake ) Gittes. Actually one of my favourite Polanski movies of all time is The Pianist. The story of polish piano player and composer Władysław Szpilman, is a very emotional and sad story, with a very powerful performance of Adrien Brody. Director Roman Polanski have always been controversial, not afraid to portrait sex, sadness and madness in some of his earlier movies. His style is unique, in some of his classics. When it comes to Carnage, we are served with something very different from his usual style. This is actually a comedy, with a cast of 4 actors only, Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly, Kate Winslet and Christopher Walz. With a very different genre in his hands, does Roman Polanski give us a pleasent surprise, or is this way out of his league ?

Michael Longstreet ( John C- Reilly ) and Penelope Longstreet ( Jodie Foster ) invite Nancy Cowan ( Kate Winslet ) and her husband Alan Cowan ( Christopher Walz ) to their appartment. Penelope´s son was beaten by Nancy´s son in school, and Penelope thinks they should arrange a meeting for the boys, so they can get along and move on with their lives. The problem is , when they start insulting each other, the couples begin to argue more and more, until things turn really bad.

I would not want to give much more information away on the story, since you need to see for yourself what will happen. But Carnage is actually surprisingly funny, and most of all very well acted from all 4 actors. Each time anyone of these people begin to argue, you can tell they tried to show us how you might do, as a parent to defend your child. The storyline is not very effective, but on the other hand the acting here is really good, so the story does not feel very important. There will be moments where you might laugh, especially from Christopher Walz who explains that women think too much. This is not one of the best Polanski movies, but still a well made comedy,  that takes on a subject many parents could relate too. Carnage is a different approach from a legendary director, trying a new path.

Rating: DDD