WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN directed by Lynne Ramsay, written by Ramsay and Rory Kinnear from the novel by Lionel Shriver, with Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly, Ezra Miller and Jasper Newell. An eOne release. 112 minutes. Rating: NNNN
Lynne Ramsay’s latest expressionistic tone poem examines a Columbine-style tragedy from a new perspective. Tilda Swinton plays the suffering mother of a teen killer. Adapting Lionel Shriver’s bestselling novel, the director vividly captures her nervous breakdown through a non-linear narrative as she struggles with memories of her son and the repercussions of his actions.
Is the boy (Ezra Miller as a teen, Jasper Newell as a child, both excellent) psychotic from birth? Ramsay wisely avoids easy answers or pat psychoanalysis. Instead, she creates a terrifying lifelong chess match between an emotionally absent mother and her embittered son, laced with dark humour (including a vindictive diaper-filling scene) and filmed with a painter’s eye for emotive details.
The result is almost as disturbing, fascinating and enigmatic as the school shootings that inspired the story.
