We Need to Talk About Kevin

Plot synopsis:
Eva's narration takes the form of letters written after the massacre to her presumably estranged husband, Franklin Plaskett. In these letters she details her relationship with her husband well before and leading up to their son's conception, followed by the events of Kevin's life up to the school massacre, and her thoughts concerning their relationship. She also admits to a number of events that she tried to keep secret, such as when she lashed out and broke Kevin's arm in a sudden fit of rage. The novel also shows Eva visiting Kevin in prison. These scenes portray their cold, adversarial relationship.
Kevin's behavior throughout the book closely resembles that of a psychopath, although reference to this condition is sparse and left mostly up to the reader's imagination. He displays little to no affection or moral responsibility towards his family or community; indeed, Kevin seems to regard everyone with contempt and hatred. He reserves special loathing for his mother, whom he has antagonized for as long as he can remember. He engages in many acts of petty sabotage from an early age, from seemingly innocent actions like spraying ink with a squirt gun on a room his mother has painstakingly wallpapered in rare maps, to possibly encouraging a girl to gouge her eczema-affected skin. The one activity he takes any pleasure in is archery, having read Robin Hood as a child.
As Kevin's behavior worsens, Franklin becomes more defensive of him, convinced that his son is a healthy, normal boy and that there is a reasonable explanation for everything he does. Kevin plays the part of a loving, respectful son whenever Franklin is around, an act that Eva sees through. This creates a rift between Eva and Franklin that never heals; shortly before the massacre, Franklin asks for a divorce.
Kevin's sister Celia is conceived largely because of Eva's need to bond with another member of her family. When Celia is six years old, she is involved in a household accident in which drain cleaner causes her to lose an eye. This is closely linked to an earlier incident involving the disappearance of Celia's pet rodents, after which Eva uses a caustic drain cleaner to clear a blockage in a sink. Two explanations are possible: that Eva left the cleaner sitting within Celia's reach, or that Kevin somehow attacked Celia with it, destroying her eye and scarring her face. Though never proven, Eva strongly believes that Kevin, who was babysitting at the time, poured the Liquid Plumr onto his sister's face, telling her he was cleaning her eye after she got something in it.
When relating the story of the massacre, Eva finally reveals that Franklin and Celia are in fact dead—Kevin killed them both with his bow before traveling to his school to attack nine classmates, a cafeteria worker and a teacher. Eva speculates that he did this because he overheard her and Franklin discussing a divorce; he believed Franklin would get custody of him, thus denying him final victory over his mother.
The novel ends on the second anniversary of the massacre, three days before Kevin will turn eighteen and be transferred to Sing Sing. Subdued and frightened, he makes a peace offering of sorts to Eva by giving her Celia's prosthetic eye to bury, and telling her that he's sorry. Eva asks Kevin for the first time why he committed the murders, and Kevin replies that he is no longer sure. They embrace, and Eva concludes that, despite what he did, she still loves her son.

Tags: psychological, cruelty, murder, violence, flashback, insanity, psychedelic, sentimental

Review:
Instead she focuses in on character and relationship development and breakdown.Tilda Swinton gives a truly great performance and even though the main thread of the story is clear almost from the start, she and the rest of the terrific cast manage to keep the viewer glued to the screen.One of the most interesting facets of the film was that it showed how much power children can hold and execute over adults if they are given the opportunity.We need to talk about Kevin is quality from start to finish and deserves to become a classic.
And throughout, I was anxious that because I had never had a child myself, I didn't know what I was talking about and readers who were parents would catch me out.' As adapted for the screen by director Lynne Ramsay and Rory Kinnear this story becomes a terrifyingly realistic exploration of the subject of inherent evil and the manner in which we deal with it.
For some this kind of non-linear story telling may be disconcerting, but for this viewer it seems like a close examination of the mind of a mother who simply cannot believe she has birthed and is raising a child who is the epitome of evil.
The fact that we are aware of something hideous that has happened from the beginning does not get in the way of watching the slow maturation of Kevin - first as a constantly screaming infant to a maliciously bad little boy to a viciously cruel and evil teenager with whom his mother cannot connect except for one very telling instance when she reads the young Kevin 'Robin Hood' and his arrows, at which point Kevin shows a degree of affection for Eva. That moment proves in retrospect to be the nidus for the horror that lies ahead.
the acting was superb especially Tilda Swinton who seems capable of mastering the strong and deep emotions.the surprise was the acting of the young Kevin- Jasper Newell- and it's really surprising that he had not been nominated for anything for his performance that leads the way to what's going on in the movie.
Those incapable of love never live." This emotional deadness and inability to empathize with others is reflected in fifteen-year-old Kevin (Ezra Miller) in Lynne Ramsay's first film in nine years, We Need to Talk about Kevin, the chilling story of a sociopathic teenager who commits a horrendous crime (not explicitly shown), one for which his mother must endure the anger and resentment of the community.Based on a novel by Lionel Shriver and co-written by Ramsay and Rory Stewart Kinnear, We Need to Talk about Kevin builds a fractured narrative told from the point of view of Kevin's mother Eva Khatchadourian (Tilda Swinton), a former big-city dweller who loved to travel and write books until she became a mother.
Unfolding as if in a fevered dream and told in a stream of flashbacks and flash forwards, a now depressed and solitary Eva looks back at key emotional tripping points along her son's destructive journey.At the outset, we are immersed in red, a frequent motif throughout the film.
She tells him, "Before you were born, Mommy used to be happy!" Now Mommy wakes up every day and wishes she were in France!" Her frustration erupts when she throws Kevin against the wall, breaking his arm for his refusal to be toilet trained, not the best way to make an emotional connection.She receives little support from her husband who refuses to believe that his son has severe emotional problems, but instead questions his wife's sanity.
Though the film's title is We Need to Talk about Kevin, apparently nobody thinks that that might be a good idea.After the violence is committed, Eva has to cope with the contempt of her neighbors.
Eternal damnation, the whole thing." While We Need to Talk about Kevin is an engaging and often gripping film that offers outstanding performances by Swinton and Miller, it is torn between being an exploitative horror film and a psychological family drama and ends up not being very successful at either.
Marred by its inability to decide whether to blame ineffective parenting for Kevin's behavior or to blame the fact that he was just born "evil," the film takes no stand at all, apparently throwing up its hands and saying, sometimes "bad" things happen for no reason, a dubious premise.While some may see the film as wisely left open to interpretation, the fact is that there is little to go on in drawing any conclusion.
Though, to its credit, the film displays an unanticipated forgiveness towards Eva by a school victim confined to a wheelchair, in its totality, We Need to Talk about Kevin is more of a display of rage, hatred, and victimization than an attempt to provide new insight or have us see the characters as flawed human beings rather than as spawns of Satan..
Trying to make this appear like an art-house experience, Lynne Ramsay not only fails to tell a promising story, but simply refuses to expose any true character motivation, senselessly disregards crucial plot devices and even deprives the movie of anything like a message or opinion.
All this to make place for slow motion shots of several kinds of red substances over an awkward score while she cheaply generates tension by making her characters behave stupid for no obvious reason besides deliberately stressing the viewer (which makes the movie extremely hard to watch), striping this down to some odd melodrama about a woman who had an asshole child..
If you want some insight into why adolescents start killing people, see Bowling For Columbine or If. But if throwing your money down the drain, boring and depressing yourself at the same time whilst stopping to pause just briefly to wonder if Tilda Swinton was a) doing someone a favour (TS and the director of this nonsense are both Scottish) b)saving up for her kids' university tuition fees or c} has completely lost her marbles, then the film for you is undoubtedly We Need To Talk About Kevin..
Before watching We Need to Talk About Kevin, I had a vague idea about its story, but I didn't expect to find the fascinating narrative style employed by director Lynne Ramsay to tell this story about a family whose apparent normality hides deep and dangerous veins of dysfunction which conclude on a tragedy.
In that aspect, I think We Need to Talk About Kevin is an excellent film, even though it's definitely not the kind of experience which brings us simple entertainment, but a sensation of pain and surprise which is very difficult to forget.I generally distrust of those movies that offer us a whimsical structure which jumps forward and backward in time, but in the case of We Need to Talk About Kevin, the style powerfully contributes to the substance, building the story on a casual way until we are overwhelmed by the magnitude of what we are witnessing.
Besides, the title of this film becomes cunningly ironic when we consider the fact that We Need to Talk About Kevin has few dialogs, and its most intense scenes are mute but full of meaning with just looks, expressions and body language.
Something which definitely includes the soundtrack, composed by songs which deeply contrast with the images which accompany them, creating a visceral answer; while other ones work as ironic accents which perfectly establish the melancholic tone from the film.And I now have to mention Tilda Swinton, who brings the best performance of her career so far in We Need to Talk About Kevin (something which is already a big compliment).
In conclusion, We Need to Talk About Kevin definitely deserves an enthusiastic recommendation, but I have to say once more that this isn't an easy or amusing film; in fact, it left me emotionally devastated for having portrayed a facet of the society whose existence we know even though we prefer to ignore it.
Working in this premise gives potential for some sense of uniqueness and exploring a world that is rarely explored, but instead Kevin takes such standard paths it's kind of hard to believe that someone as unique as Tilda Swinton would dedicate herself to this.The relationship between Kevin and Eva is relatively by-the-books and the depiction of Kevin's darkness growing is absurd to the point of stupidity.
Or perhaps the acting really did not cut it for me - the mother played the part as a real misery from almost start (ok not scene 1) to finish, not at all what I would have expected of the character.For me this film missed the point completely.
As Kevin's mother, Tilda Swinton is the only reason to sit through the film, although her sad sack is never given a break by the filmmakers, who pile on one humiliating episode after another.
It doesn't convey Eva's thoughts (central to the story) and it misses out A LOT of crucial stuff (for those who have read the book, his preschool escapades, the school dance, the bike, the bridge, the photograph, and so on.) I can't believe they turned such a fantastic and emotional book in to such a dull and lifeless film.Honestly, give it a miss.
I went from adamant kinship with Eva and the devastation of abandonment delivered by Franklin to watching these characters on screen and it felt like I was watching strangers.The haphazard way the movie skipped over Kevins infancy left me wondering how anyone, without reading the book, would be able to identify with Eva's pain.
Erza Miller who as far as I can conclude played Kevin from ages 14-18 took on little, if any, physical changes during the movie leaving me to wonder if they had shortened the time line somewhat.I can't help but wonder if a viewer who had not read the book would be able to understand this movie at all.
The music is a terrible accompaniment to the plot, it just serves to confuse and make it harder to hold the many, many scenes you need to have in your head at any one time to work out what is going on.This could have been so much better, the film is spoiled by someone trying to be too "arty"..
Because if we want to understand the character, and prevent things like this from continuing to happen in real-life, we need to talk about Kevin.
But its a choice you make as you know your going to have fun and it will end up being 'worth it'.This film had a couple of clever quirks from a directors perspective, but nothing that special.It unfortunately provoked the feelings of a very harsh hangover, without the photos, memories or fun from the night before and hence was definitely not 'worth it'.Depressing and pointless are the two best words I can find to describe this movie.
this is the first review i have ever done in 1 word garbage.don't waste your time.the movie is back and fourth with no plot.after watching for an hour it finally picks up only to bring you back down again.watching eva is like your lost in outer space much like her character.the father is dim and in denial instead of making excuses he should have put more faith in his wife.
Yet the film's greatest achievement is its ability to make a story about mass murder seem oddly tedious.As with many novel-to-film adaptations, We Need to Talk About Kevin is faced with the difficult task of injecting some suspense into the proceedings when the audience probably already knows how it all ends.
Not only do the interspersed scenes of Eva visiting Kevin in prison serve as a bit of a spoiler, but the colour red is simply everywhere - from the opening shots of a young Eva taking part in the Valencian tomato-throwing festival, La Tomatina, to later scenes of an eight-year-old Kevin maliciously defacing his mother's office with a Super-Soaker full of red paint.Thus it becomes pretty clear early on that Kevin is eventually going to go postal, and as a result you spend the rest of the running time waiting for the film to finally confirm it.
Meanwhile, we are subjected to long and repetitive scenes of Eva trying hopelessly to bond with her sociopathic progeny, raising questions about how far her less-than- perfect parenting is to blame for what eventually happens.Ramsay has a strong visual approach, and produces a set of stunning montages, representing Eva's internal struggle to piece together Kevin's life in her mind and come to some sort of understanding about what he did.
The escalation of Kevin's  (Ezra Miller) behaviour towards his mother, Eva (Tilda Swinton), is  seen in flashback.
This is why I gave a 7: (which to me means a good movie)...This movie is right down my aisle in my genre I like to watch...The movie is based on a mother knowing her son is a monster and does her best to love him while trying to fix his problem.
The film dares to strain viewers' bounds of witnessing an agonizing process of a vehement duel between an unprepared and neglectful mother and her sociopathic son, and the mother's self- pondering and retribution after the brutal massacre.Ramsay (ends a 9-years hiatus after MORVERN CALLAR 2002) reprises her director ego and turns Lionel Shriver's thorny novel into a gutsy and personal character study, parading her snappy camera-work with a constantly blood-red frame-moulding, exaggerating a non-linear narrative and overstaying freezing-frames to leaves actors (Tilda Swinton & Ezra Miller namely) extensive space for their adroitness of a headstrong interpretation.
Immediately, everybody knew, and the victims' last tweets were made public within a day.The movie We Need to Talk About Kevin looks at the events leading up to and after such a horrific event through the eyes of a parent, in this case the point of view of Kevin's mother, who has known that there was something wrong with her son since birth.
It is a beautiful film about goodness, and evil...humanity and cruelty...love and hatred, led by mind-blowing performances from Tilda Swinton on the one hand (the actress delivers the best performance of her career and probably one the best performances of the whole year) and particularly the much talented Ezra Miller, on the other hand, whom you might want to memorize the name , because I am sure we will be seeing him a lot in the years to come.
Actually, I fast-forwarded through the many, many long, slow, drawn-out and pointless scenes which burned the same expression on Tilda Swinton's face into my mind forever.I don't know what was worse: the excruciating slowness of the movie or the totally horrible music that had absolutely no place in this film...
That's where the problem with this movie lies, we are constantly bombarded with images of Eva trying to cope with having a difficult child and/or a child in jail.The movie never really bothers to tell us the real story of Kevin and why he ended up the way he did.
Its almost as if the story of Kevin plays second fiddle to the seemingly endless scenes of closeups with Tilda Swintons face in various stages of pain,sadness and despair.By the way i am not trying to be nasty but let's face it Tilda Swinton is not one of the worlds prettiest actresses so it kind of unpleasant to watch all those scenes of closeups of her face.I have almost come to the conclusion that there must exist two versions of this movie.
This could have been the perfect film (novel) for generating a lot of discourse as social commentary, and it also seems to experiment with symbolism that, however, leads nowhere.It is left open by the text whether the narrator's point of view is accurate or severely distorted; whether it is possible for a human being to be inherently evil; and it is not only the ancient viewpoints about the primacy of nature or nurture that clash, but also possible narratives about "society's betrayal of the child", radical feminism, gender roles, and the seeming impossibility of living up to the expectations that are put on parents today and many others.But the pretentiousness and implausibility of the story undermines the possibility of exciting debates about its different potential readings..
Camera work and its focus, colors setting, fragmentary narrative - all worked to produce a truly powerful cinematic experience that sucks you in the story like very few movies I've seen so far.The story itself, although fragmented through the eyes of the mother played by Tilda Swinton (one of the best acting performance I've seen), uncovers the relationship with her son Kevin.
This child actor is able to embody the fiendish kid in a way that is almost eerie.In all "We Need to Talk About Kevin" is a great movie.
When Kevin is born he is a pain in his moms ass even as a toddler (ironically I watched this on Mother's Day weekend) and the movie is leading up to a major event that leaves the main character depressed and among other things.
Hats off to Tilda Swinton who I discovered and really impressed me with her intensity.The direction is cold, distant, and emphasizes the darkness and oppression of the film.A truly great piece of work, that I guess needs to be watched several times to get all the details it contains..
Miller gives Kevin with some believable rebellious teenage qualities, namely in the way he talks to his mother, but he's also portrayed with a near-supernatural darkness reminiscent of a horror film.What we can understand is Eva's inner monologue.
Eva assumed that those feelings would go away once her son was actually born but instead she had...well, Kevin.I highly recommend this film.
The film is set up in somewhat jarring flashbacks (which really should have received an Oscar nomination for editing) as you see a completely broken Eva dealing with the aftermath of her son's actions as she reflects on the upbringing of a child who grows into a person without feeling.No, "Kevin" is NOT the feel-good movie of the year.