Over eighty minutes, Roman Polanski’s Carnage (adapted from Yasmina Reza’s Le Dieu de carnage (The God of Carnage) stage play) plays out a meeting in real time between two married couples whose sons have been involved in a physical confrontation. From the opening discussion about the implications of the word ‘armed’, replaced by the less polemic ‘carrying’, Carnage brims with intelligence, humour, embarrassment and confrontation that develop to fantastically entertaining levels. The acting is superb, as would be expected from Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, John C Reilly and Christoph Waltz. Yet equally as impressive is Polanski’s roaming camera that communicates, as much as the fantastic script (by Polanski and Reza) the ever-changing emotions of the characters. The only slight disappointment in this otherwise fantastic film is the lack of closure, which is rarely a criticism, but here, maybe because of the short running time, more is wanted from the characters, especially a more decisive ending. Yet, watching the characters’ back and forth, a resolution may never be achieved.
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