Stage To Screen

Yasmina Reza's play God Of Carnage has been a worldwide success, but I don't quite see it as a movie.  It's a small piece about two married couples who meet to discuss trouble with their kids.  Even though the situation escalates, it still all takes place in one room in real time.  Not much plot, really.  It's mostly a character study.

But being such a hit, it's naturally been made into a movie.  It's a prestigious project that just premiered at the Venice Film Festival.  The title's been changed to Carnage. (The play's title wasn't much, but this isn't any better.) Directed by Roman Polanski, it stars Jodie Foster, Christoph Waltz, Kate Winslet and John C. Reilly.  Worth checking out with a cast like that, but I wonder, will the story be opened up, or will they leave as is?

If they open it up--show them at work, show their kids--it'll lose the tension that the classical unities can create.  But if they don't open it, it'll likely seem small, not nearly so powerful as on stage. (Not that the play was so great.) As such, it'll be like another small play that was an international success, Ariel Dorfman's Death And The Maiden.  A showcase for three actors--on Broadway, it featured Glenn Close, Richard Dreyfuss and Gene Hackman--the film version, starrring Ben Kingsley and Sigourney Weaver, was forgettable.  And who directed it?  Roman Polanski.

Some would ask what about Mike Nichol's Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf??  Two couples in one room who fight into the night? Except for adding a new setting, the film hardly changed anything.  Yes, I agree, and don't think much of it as a film.  It's highly regarded by some, and, with stars and frank language for 1966, was a hit in its day. But all it is to me is a slight version of something that works better on stage.

PS:  This is from the Reuters article I linked:

But three of the four cast -- Oscar-winners Winslet and Christoph Waltz and John C. Reilly were at the annual cinema showcase to promote the movie.

John C. Reilly was nominated for an Oscar, but didn't win it.  What's happened to Reuters?

BTW, Jodie Foster's won two Oscars, so there's an average of one per lead.