We Need to Talk About Kevin

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN
ARTIFICIAL EYE
RELEASED 21 October 2011

I read the book, I watched the trailers, I derided the movie’s tagline (‘Mummy’s Little Monster’, too arch), and I loved the film. But I never got round to writing a bloody review (now corrected). It’s only gone and embarrassed me further by being my second favourite movie of the year.

To be honest, ‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’ was one of those movies that had so much spoken about it, so many five-star reviews, such a high level of anticipation from lovers of the book, that when I thought about writing about it, I wasn’t quite sure if there was anything left worth saying. It never puts a foot wrong on every level. My only misgiving before seeing the film was in the casting of John C. Reilly as the dad, who looks nothing like the character portrayed in the book. But he does a sterling job too, playing the character just as he is in the book, but getting away with not being a lantern-jawed macho man.

Of course, all the attention has focused on Tilda Swinton and Ezra Miller as the two leads, and they’re both unforgettable.

And more than anything, this is Lyn Ramsey’s film. She stamps her directorial mark all over it, while never letting the Lionel Shriver story sparkle through.

‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’ is one of those movies that will touch a nerve in any parent of any nationality. It touches on universal themes and emotions, and most frightningly, fears of ‘what may be’ in our role as a parent. The basic argument of the movie (and the book) is an ‘either or’ thing, but whichever side you come down on, there are endless permutations to discuss. It’s truly a film that opens up a real can of worms!

FIVE OUT OF FIVE