Review of We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) by Afk4Life — 06 Jul 2012

Brilliant, disturbing, evocative. The performance by Swinton is amazing but nothing compared to Miller and especially Jasper Newell. The kid just conveys malice with every scene and the one scene where he's actually nice is the most tense because you expect something bad to happen.

I'm not sure she created the monster but it's apparent to me she was complicit in developing it. Perfect performances all around. Miller (Afterschool) is a great talent and he manages to pull off being at once amazingly cute and friendly while you know there's something really frightening in there that only Swinton can see.

There's at least one scene in this featuring Newell that will give you nightmares because it's just too realistic how this precocious kid uses his intelligence to manipulate. Can debate reality of the 'school shooting' but it's pretty much immaterial because it would've happened in some way or other.

Super visually, acted to perfection, and will leave you with lots more questions than answers, one of the best films I've seen.