Film Review: We Need to Talk About Kevin

Happy Thursday everyone! Thank GOD it's Thursday. Oye! Sorry about being m.i.a. these past few weeks. My blog writer, Marsedit, decided to become an app that's is $39.99 rather than being free, so I'm trying to decide what to do with that! 

But onto the film review!... 

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I watched "We Need to Talk About Kevin" for the first time about a year ago now, and was completely blown away. I watched it a second time the day after and picked up on more subliminal messages and symbolism than I hadn't the first time. Now beware folks, this one if pretty intense. It's not a chronological film, because it bounces from different time-periods of Kevin's mother's life, so you definitely need to be prepared to pay close attention to the details; otherwise it then just becomes a random blur of violence and depressive/psycho people. 

"We Need to Talk About Kevin," directed by Lynne Ramsay, includes a star cast of Tilda Swinton (who.is.bad.ass.always) and the sweet and gentle John C. Reilly. And this film was also the big debut of Ezra Miller, who plays the part of Kevin, a deranged young adult with hatred and anger running through his veins, who has an extremely abusive and odd relationship with his mother. All of course, ending in him being a serial killer. Eva, his mother, is played by Swinton. She is a lover of traveling and seeing the world, and is independent, emotionally-closed off to everyone including her husband, and has no maternal instincts or desire for motherhood. Throughout the story, you learn about the sick and twisted relationship that Eva and Kevin cultivate through the years leading up to him using his talent with a bow and arrow to kill dozens of his high-school peers. From out of the womb, Kevin favors his father over his mother to manipulate and create as much damage as possible. It's almost like he is demon-possessed as soon as she gives birth, because he only cries frantically while he is alone with his mother. ANYWAYS, I won't give you the whole synopsis, but there are definitely some major points made in this film that I figured I could share her.

+ Eva was never interested in being a mother. Because her son was such a difficult child and she unfortunately did not have the tools to mold him into a somewhat loving one, she hates him just as much as he hates her... But then there's this odd attachment that they have with one another. There are two times in the film that Kevin shows his mother love, and she caves, as any normal human-being would of course. 

+ Sometimes it's best to go with your gut. Communication in life is HUGE, especially in a marriage. And even MORE especially in a marriage including a child with serious needs and questionable behavior. Unfortunately, John C. Reilly's character as Kevin's father, was unwilling to listen to his wife when she would slightly allude to the fact that there was something wrong with their son. Communication, folks.

+ Probably the most interesting point made in this movie is that it was all from the mother's point of view, and not just any mother, but the mother to a serial killer. Although there are ways that she may deserve some criticism, no one ever imagines their child as being something so evil. She deals with all the hate and all the anger from her community, takes it, and buries herself in it all. She almost becomes Kevin and throughout the film it is often difficult to decipher the two.  

This film is seriously awesome. It really opens up the question of "are there signs from an early age that your child may be violent?" It's sad and depressing, yes, but those are the kinds of films I like to watch, ya know? I used to be the type of girl to watch only chick flicks when I'm feeling down, but sometimes, a movie based on our world's reality does a lot more help than something that is meaningless. And sometimes, a film that is "more real" will bring you back to Earth and you can say, "well, I guess life isn't so bad afterall!"