We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) [DVD]

As a retired teacher of 34 years here in New York, the movie made me think back to the times I have had to deal with disturbed students with that "look in their eye". The movie was well-acted with Ezra Miller doing a phenomenal job as Kevin. The actor that portrayed Kevin at a younger age was also great. John C. Reilly as the father made me think of the parents I have dealt with who are the "enablers"- the ones who refuse to accept that there is a problem. This film has been a great discussion point among myself and my friends, teachers and non-teachers, parents and non-parents. The big debate : What created a child like Kevin and how could he have been dealt with ? Are there any right answers ? I highly recommend this film, but be prepared to experience a myriad of emotions.

Tilda Swinton acts as a strong heart to this film, having to convey many states, from travel-writer and explorer, to mother, to the vilified mother of a monster after her teeneage son commits an atrocity.
Most of it is portrayed with exceptional skill. Swinton excels at the brittle and shattered mother struggling to get by amidst the torrent of hate and judgement heaped her way every day, but she's always been good at playing the wounded or the outsider. Playing Kevin's unwilling mother - unable to bond with her baby, and unable to get him to warm to her either - she's also very good. Where she utterly failed to convince me was as the 'carefree explorer' and travel writer who lived for adventure. In those segments she never feels anything other than a performer going through the motions. Luckily they're sparse. However, they're also quite chilling. The films opens with her explorer self crowd-surfing at the 'la Tomatina' Spanish event where crowds pelt each other with ripe tomatoes, and the film plays the crowds writhing and covered in red with eerie hints of screams and panic echoing in to echo the future atrocity Kevin will commit. It's a memorable opening, and the film remains as visually strong throughout.
Much praise has been heaped upon Ezra Miller for what is undoubtedly an extremely assured and powerful performance as the teenage Kevin, but as much credit should be given to Jasper Newell playing the 6-8 year old version who actually carries most of the running time. It's during the earlier years that we see Swinton's character struggling to coax any reaction except cold emnity from her child, as if he senses the fact that he was unwanted, and he reacts in kind.
These sequences are a masterful power play of manipulation, passive aggression and emotional violence, with the oblivious father played by John C Reilly breezing into them to be greeted by a suddenly charming and chirpy child.
The film is convincing in the emotional reactions of all involved, and there are emotionally shattering and true-feeling moments in the aftermath of the tragedy. The student who doesn't hold a grudge despite his own hardship, and the co-worker who thinks he can take advantage ring especially surprising but true.
As the teenage Kevin, Miller is as malevolent, manipulative and charming as a cobra, sociopathic in the extreme. Perhaps the strongest moment of the film is the scene where his mother has made exceptional efforts to try to heal their relationship only for him to cut her down with such a stinging, withering and contemptuous verbal barrage that you feel that anyone in her shoes would be equally struck dumb with shock.
While the film tastefully avoids showing much of the actual violence, it remains an emotionally brutalising ride, and puts a surprisingly emotional case forward, implying that while she may have been instrumental in the formation of a monster, the mother was suffering just as much as everybody else.

Having read the brilliant book by Lionel Shriver I was expecting a lot from this movie and it really didn't disappoint. A woman (Eva played by Tilda Swinton)gives birth to a son but suffering with some sort of depression cannot connect with her baby, the boy as he then grows up starts acting stranger and stranger until one fateful night onto which the movie builds. The film starts and carries on throughout going back and fourth from past to present it sounds a little disorienting but works very well, as we see the town having a hatred towards Eva and gradually seeing why this is (although it's fairly obvious what he did). There is almost no violence on screen in the film but the colour red is very prominant from the opening shot on, also the film very heavy in symbalism the lychee scene is one example -kevins sister had an injury to her eye he just peels and chews on one. Performance wise The two leads are excellent Ezra Miller as teenage kevin is chillingly realistic in his portrayal, John C Reilly is good but in a pretty thankless role as the father, also Jasper Newell as young kevin is very good, but the film belongs to the astounding Tilda Swinton as the troubled Eva, it would have been very easy to over play her role but she gives a very controled but fantastic performance. Scottish Director Lynne Ramsey comes back brilliantly to directing after a 10 year gap and with this under her belt it certainly won't be another 10 years until her next film. Recommended to anyone psychological thriller/horror's.