Review of We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) by Mike C — 09 Aug 2012
One of my favorite ways to judge a movie is the self-invented JFC scale (think about it and you can figure it out). In other words, how many times will I say that phrase aloud in a dysfunctional movie? It doesn't work for most comedies. This one ranks high on the scale. Though our dear friend Katniss became a hero with the bow, the little psychopath Kevin chose to kill his classmates. This movie is the story of his mother.
Not usually a Tilda Swinton fan, but she's pretty great in this and was nominated/awarded many times for this role. There have been other movies about parents living after their child has done something awful. Unfortunately, these movies are a reflection of life. There are some bad ones, but this one is a pretty good one. The haters on imdb say there is no way the town would have reacted this way, and perhaps not given all the details (no spoilers here, folks), but it is not unrealistic from the beginning. When Columbine, etc, happened when I was young, I hated those parents and blamed them for not knowing exactly what their kids were up to.
And there is your story. Swinton truly is the victim here. She was not ready to have the kid. Once Kevin was born, he was a spectacularly evil little son of a bitch. She tried to be a good little "mommer" to him, but I guess you can only love the devil so much. So this story tells of the mom who really tried to fix the impossible, and when the bad things happened, she became the villain anyway. Given all that happened, which is part brilliance in writing to give the knife in your belly that extra little twist, this makes the tragedy all the more profound.
Again, Swinton is great and makes the movie. The little boy is quite good. Teenage Kevin could probably be a model or a heartthrob in a different role, but is quite unlikable in this. Solid flick that I was not wanting to watch because the last movie on a similar subject was lame. I can't remember the name of it, but this one made an impact.
This review of We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) was written by Mike C on 09 Aug 2012.
We Need to Talk About Kevin has generally received positive reviews.
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