Review of We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) by Felipe Q — 24 Nov 2013

This intense drama keeps you on the edge of your seat with compelling performances from the lead actors and a contagious story.

PLOT:Eva (Tilda Swinton) has been a troubled soul since her son, Kevin (Ezra Miller) was born. Kevin has never liked her and has always tried to defy her from toddler years to teen years, running to his dad, Franklin (John C. Reilly). However, things start to change when Kevin grows even more violent and his baby sister is born. Kevin's rebellion and resistance may end up leading the family into the ground. It's a great plot executed brilliantly.

ACTING:The performances in this film are excellent. Tilda Swinton and Ezra Miller both played excellent roles as Eva and Kevin. I really saw a characterized personality in each of their performances and actions. John C. Reilly also played a great part as loving father Franklin. All performances were good and fitting. Even the child actors such as Jasper Newell and Rocky Duer as young Kevin did a great job.

SCORE:The score in this film is pretty cool. It fit the mood very well. It wasn't anything too special though.

OTHER CONTENT:This film is very intense in every sense of the word. As Kevin gets more and more violent and defiant, we get more and more involved in the story until the climactic ending with a single line that expresses so much muddled emotion. However, with all of the vague muddle of the reasoning, we never really find out why Kevin was so mean all of these years. It seems to leave an open hole of opinion to the reason of why Kevin was the way he was. Also, this film could come off as confusing to those who don't understand its form, making it not as widely accepted by everyone. However, this is still a brilliantly done film by director Lynne Ramsay.

OVERALL,a great film with a great plot, excellent performances, cool score, intense twists, and a bunch of emotion hidden, but the reasoning can seem lost and the format of direction could confuse some people.