Tenemos que hablar de Kevin

While the idea behind "We Need to Talk About Kevin" is exceptional, I was put off by the direction of this film. While I know that a non-linear way of film making is popular these days, it's often overused--and here it is not used effectively. Too many times, the film jumps about in time and this took me out of the experience. This makes the film too unnecessarily confusing--so I am glad that I knew the plot so I could understand what was happening. Additionally, the film used a very deliberate artsy style--such as the overuse of the color red (the tomato fight, the stack of tomato soup cans, the paint)--resulting in sledgehammer symbolism. For me, the story was very strong on its own and didn't need all these tricks.

Tilda Swinton stars as a mother of a child who is seriously disturbed. However, her husband (John C. Reilly) is in complete denial and inexplicably the kid is never taken to see a therapist (or exorcist). As the film progresses, the child grows from an Oppositional-Defiant child to a cold and ruthless sociopath as a teen. You never ever hear about how he is perceived by teachers and neighbors--an odd omission. However, including the child killing animals, having one of the parents in complete denial, sexually offensive behavior and the hasty behavior towards his sister are all excellent touches--which I noticed since I used to work with folks like this (which would explained why I eventually gave up being a therapist and became a teacher). Unfortunately, as the film is out of sequence, you already know that sooner or later this will all lead to Kevin committing some atrocities.

Overall, this is a very compelling but frustrating film. I already talked about the film style which left me flat, but I also thought it very odd how the only one who seemed to notice anything unusual about Kevin was his mom. Even clever sociopaths are noticeable--perhaps not to everyone but to only be apparent to one person? Odd... The film is worth seeing but it just misses the mark for me--it could have been great.

It could have been excellent, but to me it was just good enough. I feel let down by all the reviews saying how difficult to watch the movie is. I didn't find it difficult to watch. At all.

Because to me, the movie barely scratched the surface, it could have been much more than what it ended up being. Everything was hinted at but nothing was really said. I expected to see the stages of atrocities committed by Kevin, but it was just different scenes all making the same exact point, there was no gradual progression. Therefore, the 'biggest atrocity' that happens in the movie didn't feel believable or interesting to me, at all.

Eva was a greatly portrayed character, and I like the fact that they didn't just paint her as a bad mother but as one who's simply trying her best. She felt very real to me. But like for Kevin, I feel that her character only scratched the surface and that we could have been given more insights into her thoughts and feelings. Her husband (and father of Kevin), however, felt completely useless to me. We are given some insights into their marriage and relationship, but given the title of the movie I expected the father to take a greater place in the story.

Greetings again from the darkness. The Brady Bunch, this isn't. It's also not the place to look for helpful parenting tips. In fact, the story revolves around Eva, a woman (Tilda Swinton) who apparently didn't want to have a child ... at least not at this time, and certainly not THIS child. If you have seen The Omen, you probably gave thanks that you didn't have a child like Damien. At least we knew Damien was the spawn of Satan. Eva's son Kevin, is instead a good old fashioned psychopath. One who has an inherent need to cause pain and misery for his mother.

What a pair Eva and Kevin make. From day one, Kevin seems to sense his mother's lack of joy in parenthood. And he seems to have a genetic disposition of making her pay. As with many psychopaths, his above average intelligence makes him even more dangerous. He is tricky enough to keep his dad (John C Riley) clueless as to his nature, while causing much doubt in the dad's mind as to the stability of his wife.

My favorite part is actually how director Lynne Ramsay structured the storytelling. It goes beyond non-linear and actually bounces throughout three key periods: Kevin as a baby/toddler, Kevin as a 6-8 year old (Jason Newell), and Kevin as a teenager (Ezra Miller). Each age is progressively more frightening and disenchanting, and the film begins with what is an undetermined catastrophe. This event is slowly revealed over the course of the movie, though we witness events leading up to it, as well as the resulting fallout.

There are a few scenes where Eva is scrubbing the exterior of her house in an attempt to remove the red paint that was purposefully splattered. As a viewer, we understand that she has blood on her hands and she seems resigned to the fact that she is now a social outcast, even a pariah. We spend much of the movie in Eva's jumbled thoughts as she tries to piece together what has happened and why. Of course, there is no answer. The title explains what was missing all along. There was no communication and no willingness to confront the problem ... a psychopathic son. To say they all paid the price is an understatement.

This film has a very limited audience, though my claim is that Ms. Swinton was quite deserving of an Oscar nomination. She wears defeat like a mask and lives in isolation better than most could. Even the music is offbeat and unusual in its use ... thanks to Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood. As filmmaking, this is high art. As storytelling, it's a bit muddled and quite a downer.

This movie jumps around in time. Eva Khatchadourian (Tilda Swinton) is a hard-partying drifter in her youth. In the present, she lives a lonely haunted life with a hostile town around her. In between, she marries the permissive Franklin (John C. Reilly) and has a suburban life with two kids. Her first child is the troubled Kevin (Ezra Miller, Jasper Newell). She's not a happy mother and they struggle to get along. Then a troubling incident sends Kevin to prison.

There is a lot of good acting in this. Tilda Swinton is good with her distancing. She shows that she's slightly troubled too. Ezra Miller is cold and scary. The movie doesn't go for the easy emotions. This is a haunted, cold and unsettling story. It's not a fun movie but it is a fascinating watch.

In an interview with Lionel Shriver' about her highly successful 2005 novel she commented on the difficulty of the project: 'It was admittedly draining. And throughout, I was anxious that because I had never had a child myself, I didn't know what I was talking about and readers who were parents would catch me out.' As adapted for the screen by director Lynne Ramsay and Rory Kinnear this story becomes a terrifyingly realistic exploration of the subject of inherent evil and the manner in which we deal with it. The film is particularly timely as we read almost daily of youngsters killing classmates in schools across the country. But first the story:

Eva Khatchadourian (Tilda Swinton) is trying to piece together her life following the "incident". Once a successful travel writer, she is forced to take whatever job comes her way, which of late is as a clerk in a travel agency. She lives a solitary life as people who know about her situation openly shun her, even to the point of violent actions toward her. She, in turn, fosters that solitary life because of the incident, the aftermath of which has turned her into a meek and scared woman. That incident involved her son Kevin Khatchadourian (Ezra Miller as a teenager and Jasper Newell as a 6 year old and Rock Duer as a toddler), who is now approaching his eighteenth birthday. Eva and Kevin have always had a troubled relationship, even when he was an infant. Whatever troubles he saw, Franklin (John C. Reilly), Eva's complacent husband, just attributed it to Kevin being a typical boy. The incident may be seen by both Kevin and Eva as his ultimate act in defiance against his mother.

Ramsay tells her story in bits and pieces of a collage of moments from the birth of Kevin to his incarceration. For some this kind of non-linear story telling may be disconcerting, but for this viewer it seems like a close examination of the mind of a mother who simply cannot believe she has birthed and is raising a child who is the epitome of evil. The fact that we are aware of something hideous that has happened from the beginning does not get in the way of watching the slow maturation of Kevin - first as a constantly screaming infant to a maliciously bad little boy to a viciously cruel and evil teenager with whom his mother cannot connect except for one very telling instance when she reads the young Kevin 'Robin Hood' and his arrows, at which point Kevin shows a degree of affection for Eva. That moment proves in retrospect to be the nidus for the horror that lies ahead. Yet to say more about the story wound diminish the impact one the viewer. Tilda Swinton is extraordinary in her role as is Ezra Miller. The film. At least, for this viewer, is a powerfully disturbing one and a very fine insight into how evil deeds can happen.

Grady Harp