He also acknowledged at a very young age that she disliked him and didn't love him, to which she would mostly agree with him. It really showed how she couldn't bring her self to face her debilitating relationship with her son, even though she could turn it around if she did. I still do feel really awful for her, though. The use of the colour red, like you say, in the beginning of the film was beautiful. So much detail and story. In April 1999, Drew Barrymore had Never Been Kissed, Cher told everyone to "Believe," and two kids shot up a high school in Columbine, Colorado. In life we are presented with choice, the opportunity for belief and faith. Links to outside articles must be submitted in a self-post and are subject to the above posting rules. Thoughts on it? Because of this he feels the need to take revenge on the one person that brought him into this world, which is why instead of killing her, he tortures his own mother by killing the two people that mattered most to her; the man she loved and the child she had always wanted. Word Count: 2350. [–][deleted] 5 points6 points7 points 8 years ago (1 child). [–][deleted] 5 points6 points7 points 8 years ago (0 children). A huge part of Swinton's character is her guilt, and how she's looking for signs of Kevin's abnormality. Read full review. There are a lot of characters in movies who I wish I could just swiftly kick in the teeth. Kevin’s killings, meanwhile, are the absent, invisible center of Ramsay’s film. [–]missmediajunkie 8 points9 points10 points 8 years ago (1 child). Overall, a haunting character study. "The movie is good, but doesn't capture the experience of reading the book. In my opinion, that's her guilt melting away. I'm sorry, but that's the only way that I can put it. Tilda Swinton is the star of We Need to Talk About Kevin, and her performance is so complex and volcanic and transfixing that all of the film's flaws melt away. The narrative structure is equal parts frustrating and rewarding and forces the viewer to take part in the film on every step. The first time I watched it with my family, and we all loved it but had different reactions to what was happening. After you see the film, think about it. However, I felt the film was still perfectly casted, and the stark cinematography was very appropriate for the subject matter, in particular I loved how Ramsay captured Kevin's triumph in the gym, the image was in my mind for a good week. I, too, was haunted for days. The film posits Eva’s point of view, who relays the history of her relationship with her firstborn, and … She had the intelligence and education to involve therapists to fix their issues, but she rather decided to keep playing games and try to turn his own father against him. The child is played as a teen by Ezra Miller, and his relationship with this mother, played by the Brilliant Tilda Swinton, is the central point of the plot. With Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly, Ezra Miller, Jasper Newell. Costume compliments the visual expression Lynne Ramsey has chosen to adopt. Jake Martin, visit our special Oscars season blog, Movie Minister.. It is … disastrous results. [–][deleted] 1 point2 points3 points 8 years ago (0 children). [–]EternalRocksBeneath 2 points3 points4 points 8 years ago (0 children). [–][deleted] 2 points3 points4 points 8 years ago (0 children), Ahhh yeah, the one that comes to mind is "The Strangers". Of course he does kill more than just these people, but they also have a meaning; because his mother states at one point that the only way to get famous is to kill someone and she holds strong opinions on high school killings. She exits the prison into a brilliant, pure, white light. The story revolves around a family of four, but the main focus is on the relationship between the mother (Eva, played by Tilda Swinton) and the son (Kevin, played by Rock River, Jasper Newell and Ezra Miller).. I was out by the scene of the Kevin still in diapers, playing a FPS yelling, "Die, Die!" This is movie is Reader's Digest simplification of something that has no easy answers. (Week of (February 21, 2021). Essays for We Need to Talk About Kevin. You got used to me...". This film is highly underrated. [–]electric33l 0 points1 point2 points 8 years ago (5 children). Tilda Swinton was so unfairly snubbed by the Oscars. We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) - who is the fucked up one here? i definitely need to go back and watch this film again! We Need to Talk About Kevin focuses on a school massacre orchestrated by a 15-year-old Kevin, who harbored a troubled psyche ever since he was a child. It's such a subtle little look, but it means so much. Whereas I felt really really sorry for her and could understand where she was coming from. In conclusion, I think this film is about revenge. [–]EternalRocksBeneath 4 points5 points6 points 8 years ago (5 children). I thought it was a masterfully dark, almost scary film about the battle between nature and nurture within the first 15 years of a troubled child who ends up committing a horrible crime. Despite We Need to Talk About Kevin never feeling subtle, particularly in regards to its unambiguous red aesthetic, in terms of costume the overall look is perfect. All thanks to having an incredibly sick mom. My favourite movie of 2011. ***(Minor) spoiler warning*** I loved We Need to Talk about Kevin and yes, it produces anguish, despair and sometimes just a little disbelief, given that Kevin is so disturbed you have to ask a ‘real-world’ question about a medical/psychiatric assessment of Kevin. For full Oscars coverage and commentary by its reviewer, Fr. Has anyone here seen "We Need to Talk about Kevin"? we need to talk about kevin ending explained ... For more than a decade /R/HORROR has been reddit.com's gateway to all things Horror: from movies & TV, to books & games. John C Riley also stars as the sensitive and goofy husband who often takes the son's side over his wife in various issues. In this film we see mother Eva and her struggles with her sociopathic son Kevin. He was going into the "big" prison, and he had to know that his life was about to get even worse. [–]EternalRocksBeneath 1 point2 points3 points 8 years ago (3 children). © 2021 reddit inc. All rights reserved. Then when he is older she tries to reconcile by inviting him out to eat and manages to still be a bitch about it. The whole existence of his sister serves only as mom's way of saying fuck you to her son. Article bookmarked. The novel is presented in a series of letters by Eva Katchadourian… I hate that character so much, I hate him for playing the role. If you read the book, it is apparent that mommy is just as much to blame for what happened as Kevin is. [–]SmileforDan 4 points5 points6 points 8 years ago (0 children). The way I interpreted that was that she felt Kevin finally questioned himself. That was mostly how I felt during the first viewing, and I still do feel horrible for her, but with the second viewing I started to wonder if she was really a reliable narrator, or if the lack of bonding with him somehow influenced him. Sometimes Zuzu’s petals are all you have to hold onto. Threads must point discussion in a specific direction. I only questioned that because I've been reading about serial killers a lot lately, and many of them seem to have that kind of relationship with their mothers early on, so that made me wonder about that. You can see it at 2:45 here. We Need To Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver A dark, witty tale of guilt and redemption. If all else remains equal, we should choose what gives us purpose, hope and meaning. (self.TrueFilm). Eva Katchadourian, his mother, gradually tells the story of his life in a series of letters – written in elegant, discursive prose – to her now absent husband, Franklin. I guess it's a nature and nurture thing. I was sweating with anticipation when this film was announced. We Need to Talk About Kevin is a masterful blend of drama and horror, with fantastic performances across the board (Tilda Swinton especially, delivering one of her very best). and join one of thousands of communities. He seemed so broken, as if he had discovered that he didn't have life all figured out like he thought he did (if that makes sense?). We Need to Talk About Kevin Summary. Thursday 02 April 2009 23:40. comments. He replies, "I used to think I knew, but now I'm not so sure.". But I hated it. We need to talk about Kevin, By Lionel Shriver, Serpent's Tail, $22.95 Well before the post-September 11 security crackdown, there were metal-detectors in American schools. It's something I didn't catch the first time around. [–]Grytpype-Thynne 0 points1 point2 points 8 years ago (0 children). I enjoyed it, after about the forty minute mark. She cared about being right more than about fixing any issues, in fact she never tried fixing anything at all. We Need To Talk About Kevin is a searing and complex look at the reasons couples decide to have children, the parent-child relationship, marriage, and the limits of love and loyalty. That ending was really sad. We Need to Talk About Kevin essays are academic essays for citation. His face had lost all that arrogance that made me want to smack him so much throughout the rest of the movie. Then as another evidence of how fucked up and spiteful she is, she chooses to have another kid. So how do people watch all this and then sympathize with her? I would slap him across his face if I saw him. Relating to Kevin: A … By contrast with Elephant’s oddly diffident lyricism, We Need To Talk About Kevin’s expressionistic naturalism has a roiling, post-traumatic nonlinearity. [–][deleted] 1 point2 points3 points 8 years ago (4 children). There is a 180 character minimum for top-level comments. As a side note, I don't intend to preach to anyone and don't think the movie is a case for the existence of God. We Need to Talk About Kevin feels like a daring art installation, filled with the obvious color red as a metaphor. It's about a kid who commits a mass school shooting, told after the … To prove to her son that he is the problem and that she would love a kid that wasn't him. Before the film opens, the character referred to in the title of Lynne Ramsay’s We Need to Talk About Kevin, at the age of 15, has massacred a number of his fellow schoolmates. I don't remember exactly what I said but I had to think about it for a while after seeing it, mostly because of Kevin. Ultimately, the film does not give as much insight on Kevin as the book, instead relying solely on Eva's perspective of memories while the book allows a much more complete picture of all the flashbacks, most likely pieced together by Eva's investigation of Kevin's actions, however I felt this was still a very interesting isolated character study and worked well for the medium. Kevin's mother struggles to love her strange child, despite the increasingly dangerous things he says and does as he grows up. [–][deleted] 7 points8 points9 points 8 years ago (0 children). Life has ruined her chances at free fun and she hates the world. No racism, sexism, or other forms of bigotry. One of these things is not like the other. [–]goobysalad 1 point2 points3 points 8 years ago (0 children). for whatever reason, it never occurred to me to consider the fact that swinton's character was the storyteller and that things might not have been as they seemed. Probably one of my new favourite films. It broke my heart when they would show flashbacks of her life before she had that kid, where she was travelling and happy, loving her newly married life, and then she ends up becoming nothing other than a prisoner in a life she didn't really want to begin with, and that life turns into a nightmare. We Need to Talk About Kevin is already playing in NYC; it opens today in LA, Chicago, Houston and Phoenix and is rolling out nationwide. She and Kevin both share an absolute hatred of all things mundane. Threads must promote in-depth discussion. I vote for unreliable narrator. It seems like a lot of people interpret this movie as if the son (Kevin) was naturally evil and his mom always saw the truth, but no one believed her and at the end she was proven right. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. There was one scene where the couple knew the intruders had been inside the house and the husband goes outside to investigate, leaving the wife in the house by herself. Show different points in Eva’s life realizes he fucked up one here were watching a completely different movie told of! Enotes Editorial different movie presented with choice, the opportunity for belief and faith loved but! What was happening an absolute hatred of all things mundane meanwhile, are the absent, invisible of... Up and spiteful she is so brilliant anyway, and we all loved it n't him site. 'S the climax of her entire development as a character, in fact she never tried fixing at... 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