Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 83% (Critics) / 80% (Audience)
Directed By: Lynne Ramsay
Written By: Lynne Ramsay and Rory Kinnear
Starring: Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly and Ezra Miller

Synopsis: Told in flashback form, WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN explores the fractured relationship between a mother and her son who eventually ends up going on a murderous rampage at his high school.

The Good:
Tilda Swinton was remarkable in this film. Every moment she is on the screen you can’t take your eyes off of her and that makes for a tough time viewing because there are many cringe inducing moments in this film that make you want to look away. It is an odd bit of performing from Swinton because her Eva Khatchadourian alternates from near catatonia to nervous passivity to utter shrewishness with none of those being the most historically captivating moods to rope in an audience. But somehow she takes a character that is hard to like or identify with and makes her incredibly engrossing.
The two actors who play Kevin are very good too. Jasper Newell (who plays Kevin from ages 6 to 8) is a convincing little monster who gamely plays the bad seed role and Ezra Miller (who plays teenage Kevin) has this unsettling androgynous Emo look that serves the aloof demeanor that Kevin wears like a badge of honor very well.

The Bad:
The use of non-sequential flashbacks is sometimes jarring especially when focusing on Eva in her pre-Kevin life. I also was not a fan of the dreamy/hazy way the movie was shot. I understand it was to put the audience in the same foggy state of mind that Eva was in but I just didn’t care for it.
I also think the movie would have benefited from showing more of what an utter bastard Kevin was leading up to his horrific actions. Too much of Kevin’s terrible behavior was hinted at or insinuated and that made for a certain detachment that took away some of the impact of the film for me.

The Ugly:
I like John C. Reilly but he was not a good choice to play the role of Eva’s husband and Kevin’s father. His hangdog looks and average Joe vibe seemed woefully out of place in this film and I couldn’t really accept his performances in the more dramatic scenes.

Final Verdict: WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN is not an easy film to watch but it is worth the time and effort just for the amazing performance by Tilda Swinton. She more than compensates for the few missteps and failings that the director made in producing this movie. B-