Carnage

Movies to See This Week

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THE ARTIST

Some of the year’s very best films are in theaters now. I especially recommend these four:

The Artist: A magical romance given us through the highly original choice of an almost silent film.

The Descendants: Director Alexander Payne’s (Sideways) family drama is set in Hawaii and contains a brilliant performance by George Clooney.

Hugo, Martin Scorsese’s revelatory 3D tale of an orphan living in the bowels of a 1920s Paris train station who strives to survive by his wits, keep his independence and solve the puzzle of an discarded automaton.

Best Movies of 2011.  Steven Spielburg’s War Horse has also been nominated for Best Picture.  Roman Polanski’s Carnage is a fine comedy.

Here are my comments on some other current films, the sex addiction drama Shame, the biopic  The Iron Lady and the very odd fable Albert Nobbs.  Plus, I liked the lightweight feminist action thriller Haywire.

I haven’t yet seen A Separation or Pina 3D, which open this week.  You can read descriptions and view trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

 

Carnage: a comic actors’ showpiece

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The sons of two Brooklyn couples have tangled in a schoolboy row.  The couples meet to discuss the matter, but the personality clashes between and within the couples derails an encounter of forced politeness into comic chaos.

Carnage belongs to its actors, and the couples are played by John C. Reilly and Jodie Foster and Christoph Walz and Kate Winslet.  All are very good and very funny.  The Austrian actor Walz (Inglorious Basterds) is especially good; his eyes betray his indifference to parenting and social niceties, but finally gleam when he is spurred to conflict.

Carnage is directed by Roman Polanski, based on the popular comic play God of Carnage by the French playwright Yasmina Reza.   God of Carnage won the 2009 Tony for Best Play.

Polanski (Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown, The Pianist) is one of the greatest living directors, and knows enough to eschew anything showy here.  He just lets the actors show their chops, which is a very good thing.  Carnage is not one of the year’s best movies, but is a smart and funny comedy.

Upcoming Oscar bait

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I recently updated  Movies I’m Looking Forward To, where you can see descriptions and trailers of upcoming films.  I’ve included some Oscar bait coming out just before the end of 2011, including:

A Dangerous Method:  David Cronenberg’s tale of Freud and Jung  with Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbinder, Vincent Cassel and Keira Knightly.

The Iron Lady with Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher.

Coriolanus:  Ralph Fiennes’ contemporary version of the Shakespeare play.

Carnage:  Roman Polanski’s dark comedy with John C. Reilly, Jodie Foster, Christoph Walz and Kate Winslet.

Here’s the trailer for The Iron Lady.

 

 

Some Carnage to Look Forward To

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Christop Walz in his Oscar winning role in Inglorious Basterds

Roman Polanski is currently in post-production with his newest film Carnage, based on the popular comic play God of Carnage by the French playwright Yasmina Reza.   God of Carnage won the 2009 Tony for Best Play.  It is the story of two couples whose sons have tangled in a schoolboy row; the couples meet to discuss the matter, but the discussion keeps veers off into bickering and rants.

In Polanski’s movie, the couples are played by John C. Reilly and Jodie Foster and Christoph Walz and Kate Winslet.  On Broadway, the likes of Jeff Daniels, Marcia Gay Harden, James Gandolfini, Hope Davis, Christine Lahti, Jimmy Smits, Dylan Baker and Lucy Liu cycled through the roles.  Daniels has played both male roles and Harden won a Tony for Best Actress.

Polanski (Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown, The Pianist) is one of the greatest living directors.  With last year’s The Ghost Writer, Polanski proved that he’s still on the top of game.  So I’m looking forward to this one, too.