NEWS
EVENTS
We Need To Talk About Kevin
Other | Monday 24th October 2011 | Osh
Tilda Swinton has mastered many roles in her career, from an icy Snow Queen (The Chronicles of Narnia) to an alcoholic-turned-extortionist (Julia) to a toxic corporate shark (Micheal Clayton). But it's her perennial knack for understatement that sets her apart, allowing her to appear in less glamourous projects without an air of “I better get an Oscar for this...” wafting onto screen.
We Need To Talk About Kevin would be such a project. An adaptation of Lionel Shriver's 2003 novel, the film sees Swinton star as Eva, a tortured mother who is still paying for her sons murderous actions. The centre of a Columbine-style High School killing-spree, Kevin (Ezra Miller) is now in prison and visited regularly by Eva. Through flashbacks we learn of their volatile relationship, from Eva's clear resentment of having her glory years cut short by pregnancy to Kevin's early sociopathic behavior. Can Eva be blamed for her sons actions? Director Lynne Ramsay begs you to ask the question, however devastating the answer may be. Attacked and harassed by parents of the victims (an early scene sees her front porch covered in red paint, PETA-style), it's safe to assume Eva herself must ask such a question.
After an eight year long hiatus, Ramsay makes a triumphant return to the directors chair. Her approach is confident and abstract, with a disjointed structure that calms down by the films third act. Gus Van Sant's docu-drama Elephant covered similar territory, but frustrated many with a padded script and a chilling lack of answers. And while Ramsay offers no easy way out for her protagonists, We Need To Talk About Kevin has a coherency and punch that may appease those that Elephantleft cold.
John C. Reilly is warm and affable as Eva's estranged husband, while Miller is a revelation; scarily convincing as a cruel, dead-eyed psychopath. But this is Swinton's film, and here the actress gives an intense, almost unbearably honest performance. Everyone will have their own opinion on such a complex character, but Swinton's talents are surely not up for debate. It could be enough to get her that second Oscar, whether she wants it or not.
John C. Reilly is warm and affable as Eva's estranged husband, while Miller is a revelation; scarily convincing as a cruel, dead-eyed psychopath. But this is Swinton's film, and here the actress gives an intense, almost unbearably honest performance. Everyone will have their own opinion on such a complex character, but Swinton's talents are surely not up for debate. It could be enough to get her that second Oscar, whether she wants it or not.
