Translating a limited-setting play to the screen can be tricky business ‐ it’s not often that stage plays that take place in just one or two locations are suited for a cinematic interpretation. To put it simply ‐ how can people sitting around in a room be compelling to a movie-going audience? Well, when the people sitting around that room are Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, and John C. Reilly, and they’re directed by Roman Polanski, it’s pretty compelling.
Based on Yasmina Reza’s play “God of Carnage,” Polanski’s latest focuses on two couples, the Longstreets (as played by Foster and Reilly) and the Bowens (Winslet and Waltz), tossed together after the Bowens’ son gives a good face-wacking to the Longstreets’ boy. Attempting a cordial meeting to hash out the results of the brawl, the Bowens and the Longstreets end up making their kids look tame, as they all end up going positively bonkers. Check out just how bonkers in the second trailer for Carnage, after the break.
This new trailer starts much in the same way that the trailer we saw back in August did, but this one takes a bit longer to get to the inevitable breakdowns, a pattern I hope is repeated in the film itself. Also, John C. Reilly’s work in this trailer alone is gut-busting. Honestly, this is the first piece of marketing for the film that really makes its December 6 release date seem a far way off.
Our own Robert Levin reviewed the film just this morning at the New York Film Festival, giving it a solid B rating, so if you’re on the fence about your Carnage interest level, why not give his review a peek and see if it changes your mind? [Yahoo! Movies]