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We Need
To Talk About Kevin
Directed by Lynne Ramsay
FACT Cinema
27th October - 17th November 2011
Reviewed by Colin Serjent
A spine-chilling account of a psychopathic teenager who coomits a Dunblane type massacre at a US school. Adapted from the 2003 novel by Lionel Shriver, British director Lynne Ramsay brilliantly juxtaposes past and present of the incident, without it ever becoming confusing.
She is ably assisted by a stellar cast, including a virtuoso performance by Tilda Swinton, playing the haunted Eva, the mother of the perpetrator, Kevin.
The acting of infant Kevin (Rocky Duer) and the 16-year-old version (Ezra Miller) are also first-rate. The little monster of a child develops into an even more detestable human being.
Ramsay does not flinch from depicting the harrowing times Eva endures at the deliberate mental cruelty inflicted on her by her offspring, as well as the torment she suffers at the hands of neighbours following the tragedy.
Why she is subjected to this persecution after Kevin is jailed left me baffled. She was not responsible for the carnage. The families of Thompson and Venables were not hounded by vigilante mobs following the vicious murder of toddler Jamie Bulger.
With Christmas fast approaching please beware giving a bow and arrow set to young loved ones!
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