{"id":1459,"date":"2011-10-18T13:47:42","date_gmt":"2011-10-18T13:47:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/?p=1459"},"modified":"2011-10-18T13:48:32","modified_gmt":"2011-10-18T13:48:32","slug":"we-need-to-talk-about-kevin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/thriller\/we-need-to-talk-about-kevin\/","title":{"rendered":"LFF: We Need To Talk About Kevin****"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Tilda Swinton<\/a> generally never fails to impress audiences in anything she turns her hand to. Indeed, what can honestly be said about Lynne Ramsay<\/a>\u2019s adaptation of Lionel Shriver<\/a>\u2019s riveting and utterly chilling book, We Need To Talk About Kevin<\/em><\/a>, is that the role was written unquestionably for Swinton \u2013 or even the book\u2019s character for that matter. Shriver even quotes in the back of her book that the film adaptation is \u201cwell cast, beautifully shot and thematically loyal\u201d to her novel. Any anomalies that arise from watching the film are purely subjective as a result of what you\u2019ve already visualise while reading mother Eva\u2019s (Swinton) story \u2013 and there are a few, perhaps, minor ones.<\/p>\n

Travel journalist Eva never wanted to be a mother, certainly not to a boy who murders seven of his fellow high school students, a cafeteria worker and a teacher who tried to befriend him. Now, two years after Kevin\u2019s horrific rampage, it\u2019s time for her to come to terms with her teenage son\u2019s actions, fearing she may have been partly responsible.<\/p>\n

The story looks at the ultimate \u2018nature verses nurture\u2019 question; was Kevin born evil or was his upbringing a factor in his actions? Ramsay addresses this but in a subliminal way, rather than focuses on it head on, as the book does through a series of letters by Eva to her absent husband (Franklin, played by John C. Reilly)<\/a>. The opening shot perfectly captures the pre-mother, carefree nature of travel nut Eva, as Swinton wallows in happiness in a sea of crushed tomatoes at the La Tomatina festival in Bu\u00f1ol, Spain, that simultaneously symbolise the destruction and reminder of the colour red of blood that now dominates Eva\u2019s every thought.<\/p>\n

Swinton is spellbinding as she sleepwalks through her everyday existence after the night in question, punctured by moments of intense pain as she is left trying to cope. Ramsay also keeps her stunning cinematography deliberately disorientating and menacingly unsettling between past and present moments that blur into one to add to Swinton\u2019s faultless performance. It\u2019s perhaps no coincidence then that the parts of Ramsay\u2019s interpretation that jar a little are the \u2018clearer\u2019 re-enactments of Kevin\u2019s younger years.<\/p>\n

Jasper Newell<\/a> plays a challenging feature-film debut role as the younger Kevin. But it\u2019s this part of the book about Kevin\u2019s manipulative ways that plant the seeds of despair that is crucial and does not quite translate across as well or as terrifying, and that\u2019s quite disappointing. Things aren\u2019t helped by Newell\u2019s comical schlock horror glares, like a latter-day Damien, and the script that should help cultivate a deep sense of foreboding, before being introduced to Ezra Miller<\/a>\u2019s Kevin, seems contrived.<\/p>\n

That said Miller captures the cool, calculating character as well as can be expected \u2013 a little more apathy would have satisfied further. However, those who have not been exposed to the book will find Miller pitch-perfect in this, both in look and in action. Nevertheless, the pivotal dinner monologue given to his mother feels less curt and unnerving than it should.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, Ramsay doesn\u2019t recreate a grand \u2018killing spree\u2019 flashback, merely touching on the carnage caused throughout, then showing one iconic Kevin pose in the gym, and keeping things in a state of suspended disbelief and focused on Eva\u2019s angle. The director visually nails the shocking, end domestic scene in the book, as well as the last mother-son prison meeting, with Miller giving an incredibly underplayed but potent glimpse of human emotion and fear in Kevin at the very end.<\/p>\n

As a standalone film, this is one of the most chilling social thrillers out this year with some powerhouse performances from Swinton and Miller. The problems arise when personal interpretations of the meaning behind Eva\u2019s words in the novel get in the way of enjoying what is before you on screen, and trying to separate the power of the written word from the spoken\/unspoken one is tricky. Hence, fans of the book will naturally be divided, but, as Shriver says in her book, should not fear watching the film: They will agree on Swinton being the only actor perfect for the dynamic role of survivour Eva.<\/p>\n

4\/5 stars<\/strong><\/p>\n

By @FilmGazer<\/p>\n

Follow on Twitter<\/a>
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Tilda Swinton generally never fails to impress audiences in anything she turns her hand to. Indeed, what can honestly be said about Lynne Ramsay\u2019s adaptation of Lionel Shriver\u2019s riveting and utterly chilling book, We Need To Talk About Kevin, is that the role was written unquestionably for Swinton \u2013 or even the book\u2019s character for … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “LFF: We Need To Talk About Kevin****”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1593,10,6],"tags":[1592,1591,118,1590,1589,1588,1587],"class_list":["post-1459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bfi-lff-2011","category-drama","category-thriller","tag-ezra-miller","tag-jasper-newell","tag-john-c-reilly","tag-lionel-shriver","tag-lynne-ramsay","tag-tilda-swinton","tag-we-need-to-talk-about-kevin"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1459"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1465,"href":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1459\/revisions\/1465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}