Review of We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) by Delicate I — 16 Jan 2013

If I were grading "We Need to Talk About Kevin" on the strength of its lead actress Tilda Swinton's performance, this would easily be a 5-star film. However, one flawless performance does not make a flawless film.

Yes, Swinton carries this story from beginning to end in a pure character study that is equal parts creepy thriller and family drama. Director Lynne Ramsay pulled a lot out of her lead but as we've seen with Swinton over the years (Michael Clayton, Adaptation) she's always a force onscreen.

This movie was finally a chance for Swinton to show that she can carry a film on her own. Typically, we've seen her in strong supporting roles but after "We Need to Talk About Kevin" we will likely see her as top-billing more often. Here, Swinton successfully shows us the slow erosion of a person's psyche when being constantly tested, in this case by a child that has nothing but contempt for her.

In this film, she plays Eva, a woman trying to get back on her feet after an unspeakable tragedy has affected her entire life. Ramsay, who also co-wrote the screenplay, tells the story through a mixture of flashbacks as we discover what led to this climactic event. The titular Kevin is her son and to say that they have a rocky relationship would be the understatement of the century.

Kevin is played by Ezra Miller (The Perks of Being a Wallflower), who did a great job playing a vacant and often hostile teenager. However, I walked away feeling underwhelmed by Miller's performance as a whole because he felt very one-dimensional and frankly, not very real in a movie that is firmly grounded in reality.

As the movie progresses and Kevin's behavior grows more bizarre, it feels more and more like a bad horror film where the protagonist and the audience seem to be the only parties aware of what's "really going on".

The title of the film would have been the most important words uttered by a character, if only someone had said them.

"We Need to Talk About Kevin" is one hell of a downer, with a few brief feel-good moments sprinkled into its almost two-hour running time. As a vehicle for Tilda Swinton's acting talents, it works wonderfully but as a total package, this movie left me feeling colder than its title character's heart.