We Need To Talk About Kevin (Movie Review)

Every once in awhile, a little movie comes along that delivers a giant kick to the gut. We Need To Talk About Kevin is one of those.

Eva is a mother left to deal with the aftermath of her son Kevin’s killing spree at his school, but there is so much more to the movie than that. Essentially the story is told in three overlapping parts. Part one takes place before Kevin was born. Eva was like a female George Bailey, wanting to travel the world, but instead she meets Franklin (John C. Reilly) and settles down to start a family. Part two is the birth and the raising of Kevin and the third part takes place after his rampage. The opening third of the movie skips back and forth between these three parts before settling into a more linear story.

Tilda Swinton is excellent as Eva, a woman desperately trying to cope with being a mother and raising a deeply troubled son. You can see and feel the guilt, grief, and pain she is in as she struggles just to get through the day in a small town that blames her for the actions of her son. She is struggling with the effects of the massacre as is the town. Her house and car are vandalized, neighbors glare at her and in one startling scene, a woman she doesn’t know comes up and smacks her in the face.

Her trouble begins the day Kevin is born. During a scene in the hospital, Franklin is holding the newborn baby, while Eva lies in the bed, staring straight ahead. Which brings up one of the underlying questions of the film: What happens if you don't love your own child? And what if your child doesn’t love you?

Eva has no idea what it takes to be a mother or how to deal with a baby. When his incessant crying drives her to the edge, while out for a walk she stands next to a jack-hammer just to drown out the cries. He develops slowly, refuses to speak, is uninterested in anything and still wears diapers well after he should. They take him to the doctor to see if anything is wrong, only to be told they have a normal, healthy boy. Kevin is manipulative and knows how to push her buttons. When she complains to her husband, he refuses to see what’s going on, as he has been manipulated by Kevin also. Franklin sees a different Kevin and they get along great, but the father fails to see the potential evil growing in his son. Eventually he (unknowingly) introduces Kevin to the weapon he'll later use.

This film brings up so many questions, some answered and some left to the viewer to decide. Are monsters born, or are they made? Was Kevin born normal, but changed based on his upbringing or lack of it? Was he mentally ill even at a young age but wasn’t diagnosed correctly? Or was he truly born evil (ala’ Damien)?

Personally, I think it’s the second question posed. There is one scene when Kevin is young and is sick with a fever. It’s the only time they ever bond; he snuggles up with his mother as she tells him a story. He doesn’t want anything to do with his father, just be with his mom while he’s sick. Once he is better, he’s back to his hellish self.

There is tension almost the entire movie. The school shooting itself is the elephant in the room, always lurking such as when Eva gets the call at work to come to the school, as she’s watching the bodies being carted out, or later talking to a wheelchair-bound survivor. Director Lynne Ramsay doesn’t sensationalize the event, and most of it takes place off screen. There where other plot points where I was sure something was going to happen, and dreading it the entire movie, only for the film to take a different path.

Swinton certainly deserves an Oscar nod for this performance. She already won for her role in Michael Clayton, and this far surpasses that. Also impressive are the performances of all three boys (Rock Duer, Jasper Newell and Ezra Miller) who play Kevin from childhood to teenager. As far as I can tell, this is the first major film any of them have done, and all are remarkable.

The one flaw I can find though is in the (mis)casting of John C. Reilly as the father. He’s mainly known for his offbeat, comedic roles, and while he has played some dramatic characters, he comes off as kind of a shallow goofball here.

In real life, so many shooting have ended with the killer(s) also dying, so we never really know their motives. Even though this is a work of fiction (it’s based on the book by Lionel Shriver), this time the shooter lives, and we (and Kevin) still don’t know why he did it.

This movie will leave you thinking about it well after the lights come up, as great movies should.