Red. A young woman is carried along in the middle of La Tomatina. She seems happy. Soon we see her as a middle-aged woman. She seems sad. This is Eva. Different images overlap in the form of memory. She seems tormented, perhaps by her past. Something has happened. Concentrate, the film will explain…
What have we got?
- A strange and delicious film, told in an unusual way and centred on the stories of its characters.
- A tour de force from Tilda Swinton, marvellous, carrying the weight of the film.
- A magnificent Kevin, played by two young actors, Jasper Newell and Ezra Miller.
- A soundtrack (by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead) and photography that fit perfectly.
- A script that interests, digs deep, experiments and makes you think. Based on Lionel Shriver’s best-selling novel of the same name.
What haven’t we got?
- Special effects, action, a frantic pace.
- A big budget.
- A conventional approach.
How does it turn out?
A small gem. One of those films that’s hard to watch again but, if you do, you discover more details. Under the pretext of a case like Columbine, we’re shown the story of a tragic ending for a family, the path that led them to appalling events. The film focuses on a mother’s constant review of her life as she tries to understand how she has ended up where she is, with her son in prison after carrying out a massacre. The pace is slow, interesting and mysterious in a strange way. Red is constant. The present is shown through repeated flashbacks to the past, always from the protagonist’s memories, which hide neither a sense of guilt nor of incomprehension. The image we get of Kevin is distorted by her frustrated, desolate and bewildered conception of him. The viewer’s interest never flags. We Need to Talk About Kevin is a portrait of a broken family, a boy with problems and parents who don’t know how to deal with it. Is it the mother’s fault, for not knowing how to treat her son? Or perhaps the father’s, unable to see the problem? Is there anything to be done with a son like this? Curiously, for all that the title says “we need to talk about Kevin”, his parents never once talk about him in the whole film.
Watch it on a day when you can settle in for it, as it demands concentration. In its subject it recalls Elephant, except that here the protagonist is the mother. The way it develops its characters and the rawness of events, above all the naturalness with which they happen, recall Tyrannosaur.
Highly recommended, but not for everyone.