Reviewed by Melissa Garza
I have been waiting quite some time to see We Need to Talk About Kevin. The movie jumps back and forth showing Eva (Tilda Swinton) raising her very disturbed son Kevin (Ezra Miller – teenage years).
Kevin (Rock Duer – toddler years) displays signs very early on that he isn’t right. Even as a toddler his lack of emotion frightens Eva. Her husband Franklin (John C. Reilly) seems oblivious to his nature. In fact, it appears that Kevin (Jasper Newell – early childhood) purposely hides his true personality and wears a façade of kindness in front of his old man.
When Kevin is around 6 years old, he is still wearing diapers. He purposely goes to the bathroom only to force his mother to change him. When he goes again in front of her right after she put a new diaper on him, she flips out and pushes him against the wall. His arm gets broken in the process and oddly Kevin covers up for her.
When he gets earlier, Eva sees him masturbate and instead of acting humiliated, he continues until she turns away.
The movie culminates when he buys locks for the school and commits a massacre with the bow and arrow his father bought him.
This is one of the few movies that my brother Geno and I completely disagree on. He thought this was a pretentious movie with a lot of fluff and little substance. I can definitely see his points on the pretentious nature. There are times that it even talks down to the audience with imagery. Throughout the movie red is the focus color to represent the lives lost at the conclusion of the production. The intention was definitely to illicit a feeling with color the way in which Stanley Kubrick did in The Shining or David Lynch did in Blue Velvet. Instead and when referring to imagery alone, we get something like Chris Sivertson’s I Know Who Killed me. Now, don’t get me wrong. We Need to Talk About Kevin is superior to Sivertson’s production in every way. The only comparison is in the overused imagery. Here, Lynne Ramsay not only overused the color red but utilized it in scenes where foretelling the conclusion was redundant or backtracked on established plot points.
That said, I disagree with Geno on all other assessments. Generally, one expects someone who commits an atrocity like the Columbine tragedy to be in some way sympathetic. We envision them to be the bullied or the outcasts. I always think of Pearl Jam’s video Jeremy, which by the way, used the color red brilliantly. In Jeremy, it is known that the child is damaged from his surroundings. In We Need to Talk about Kevin, it isn’t that clear. There is definitely standoffishness by Eva but it seems on the surface to be as a result of Kevin’s behavior.
Kevin on the surface seems to be a sociopath however the conclusion even leaves that open. The moral is cloudy. Is the film saying that no one is just a sociopath and that the human psyche isn’t as black-and-white as we make it out to be? Is it saying that even the worst of society can be broken by jail? On on level it seems that the only thing that humanizes Kevin is being locked up.
Overall, I really enjoyed the movie. It is certainly one to analyze after it is done. An interesting facet is that the movie is filmed in a way where the characters only allow the viewer to see what they want them to. For example, Eva is a very private person and though we see her shut down to other characters, she also shuts down in scenes. There is silence rather than explanation. This in itself says a lot.
I would highly recommend the movie and it is currently in Redbox and available for rent.
Scared Stiff Rating: 8/10
Thank you so much for the review on We Need to talk about Kevin. I haven’t seen the movie yet but I ordered it on Blockbuster @Home in Blu-ray. All my co-workers at Dish have told me to see this movie; it’s a really disturbing movie. I can’t wait to watch it when I get it in the mail.
It’s definitely worth the watch. I think you’ll enjoy it – and yes it is quite disturbing. Definitely, let me know what you think of it. – Missy Garza 🙂