Second Chance Theater: We Need to Talk About Kevin

By Rob Christopher in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 25, 2012 6:00PM

When we first watched it last year at the Chicago International Film Festival, we couldn't talk about We Need to Talk About Kevin because of an embargo on reviews. As another edition of CIFF draws to a close, it's the perfect time to revisit this powerful film.

Chik-chik-chik go the lawn sprinklers in the first scene of this wrenching drama, sounding very much like a timebomb. The real timebomb is Kevin, a teenager whose mother Eva (Tilda Swinton) is the only one aware of his true sociopathic nature. Of course, we the audience are too; and the movie's title, We Need to Talk About Kevin, is a direct challenge—a provocation to examine the causes and effects of adolescent violence. Told largely in flashback, we already know what happens: after meticulous preparations, Kevin goes on a rampage of violence at his high school, killing or wounding untold numbers of his peers. The movie mercilessly details the how. Each scene ratchets up the tension as all the elements fall into place, one by one, constructing an impressionistic portrait of Kevin's childhood and Eva's emotional state in the aftermath of the massacre.

But what makes the movie so upsetting is its steadfast refusal to answer why. Why exactly is Kevin the way he is? Was he truly born evil? Does Eva's ambivalence about motherhood play a role? Or our society's violence-saturated media? Co-screenwriter and director Lynne Ramsay, for whose past work (Ratcatcher, Morvern Collar) the adjective "bleak" is too cheerful, does not say. Most horror movies include a wink and nudge. Terrible things might be happening on screen, but often these gruesome events and their cartoonish gore are so over the top that one can only laugh. But in this movie most of the carnage remains firmly off screen, and there's little of the gallows humor common to the genre. The story is played absolutely for real.

Swinton offers further proof that she's the finest actress currently working in film today. Her performance is raw and eloquent, communicating more with a mere grimace or a look in her eye than any monologue ever could. As Kevin, Ezra Miller (currently featured much more benignly in The Perks of Being a Wallflower) is both scary and magnetic. His swagger is frightening. And the interplay between Swinton and Miller, two people whose telepathy means they can never hide from one another, will chill you to the bone. Now available on DVD and demand, We Need to Talk About Kevin is more disturbing than most any other movie you're likely to see this Halloween season.