We Need to Talk About Kevin - Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly and Ezra Miller

The Gist

We Need to Talk About Kevin
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Eva is trying to move on with her life. She's finding a new job, repainting her house. But moving on is easier said than done when everyone in town hates her. People throw paint at her house, slap her, and generally harass her. As Eva tries to put her life back together, she reflects on her life before the tragedy - a loving husband, a sweet young daughter, and a twisted older son who has always seemed to loathe her. She thinks on how her life went from trying to deal with a handful of a boy to visiting him in juvie after his homicidal spree. With nothing left in her life, she desperately tries to understand what happened with Kevin to make him so demented.

What We Think
Reviewed by Living Destiny
Run Time: 112 minutes
Rating: R
I'd heard of this before we watched it, but I still had no idea what it was really about. It was a drama psychological-thriller type thing with nobody I knew except for John C. Reilly. And it was an indie film, and the day before we watched this, we watched another indie movie film that got great reviews called Like Crazy that I really hated. So. I guess I just didn't know what to expect going into this. Which I guess is a good thing. I guess.
Anyway, the way the story is told is a combination of present day and flashbacks, but the flashbacks are told in chronological order, so it's almost like two stories running tandem with each other. In the present day, it shows mostly Eva (Tilda Swinton) trying to move on with her life, and attempting to avoid the people that hate her, which is basically everyone. It also shows her visiting her son Kevin (Ezra Miller) in juvie, which is awkward in the best way possible. Then in the flashbacks, it tells the story of Kevin's life, from when Eva met her husband Franklin (John C. Reilly) all the way up to the day Kevin "his animosity reaches its peak" (according to Dream Catcher). It sounds complicated or confusing, but this was actually a really effective way of telling a story. Something about flashbacks is attractive, as long as they're done well. These were great because they showed Kevin develop as a person, and they showed Eva's strained relationship with her son.
It's interesting to me that this movie is classified as a thriller. I mean, when I think of thrillers, I think something that makes my heart race and makes me jump. Like The Woman in Black, or stuff like that. And this really isn't like that. Not that it shouldn't be a thriller, because it was totally creepy, but in a different way. It was a slow sort of creepy. It all built up around Kevin, him getting more and more dark as he grew older, but also becoming more subtle and sly. It was like watching the birth of a super villain. Even at points where I could predict what would happen, it was still freaky, a he-can't-do-that feeling, and he always did whatever 'that' was. Very eerie.
The acting was so good. Tilda Swinton is someone that I have literally never heard of. She's been in tons of movies, won an Oscar, and I haven't seen her in anything except this. But she's really great. Her character is full of grief, but the way she plays it isn't typically grief-stricken. It's quiet, meek, like she takes all the responsibility for Kevin's actions, even though she isn't the one that did it. And speaking of Kevin, Ezra Miller. Yes. He hasn't been in much, and I think this is sort of his big role (although he's going to be in The Perks of Being a Wallflower this year). He was fantastic. So apathetic, it was like he had no soul. Well, maybe not that creepy. But it was definitely weird to watch. He was always two steps ahead of his parents, very sardonic and sneaky. Ezra Miller played the intelligent but uncaring attitude incredibly well. John C. Reilly was a nice supporting character as the clueless father. Maybe not clueless so much, because he only doesn't see how twisted Kevin is because Kevin hides it from him. John C. Reilly is the one person in this cast that I'd actually heard of before watching it, and I've always liked him, so it's no surprise that I like him here. He's the happy part of the movie, cheerful and smiling up until the end.
This isn't something I usually talk about, but I just want to touch on the story itself for a minute. Most movies recently are adaptations of books, or sequels, or adaptations of classic stories (I'm looking at you, Snow White and the Huntsman). Everything is just copying everything else. Now, I'm not saying that this is a 100% original idea, because honestly nothing is anymore. Yes, the idea of a troubled kid going crazy and lashing out is one that has been done before. And, admittedly, this movie is based on a novel too. But this version of it, it's really well done. It isn't overly dramatic or unbelievable. It stays mellow, and it's sketchy because it could be true. It's possible that this could happen. It wasn't overdone. The dialogue was natural, the progression wasn't too extreme. It was just a really good screenplay, and that isn't something that gets noticed all too often, so I want to give credit to the writers here, because they deserve it.
And since I'm already talking about things I don't usually mention, I'll go here too. This year I took a filmmaking course, and since then, it's been hard to watch a movie without noticing certain aspects of film. One of those is the color palette of movies. Some movies have tinting or specific colors they stick with. They usually symbolize something. This movie was hardcore red. Nearly everything in the movie was red. Walls, chairs, lamps, clothes. Everything. It was interesting to see. Obviously it was important, but it was just neat to notice. And now that I've said it, I dare you to watch this movie and not notice it.
Basically, this was an intense movie. Nothing flashy or over-the-top, but very awesome. Indie movies are a real toss-up, because they don't have to conform to the desires of a production company or Hollywood, and they can do what they want. In that way, they can either turn out really good or really bad, and I've experienced both. This was one of the good ones. It was refreshing to see a movie that didn't rely on special effects or big-name hot shot actors to get along. It was entertaining without any of the glamour of big budget movies. It can support itself through its screenplay, acting, and cinematography, and that's not something that can be said about most of the movies today, so it's definitely a win in my book.
Real Teen Rating ~ A-: See it with some friends!