We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)
It is rare to see a film age to become so relevant and daring in the little amount of time it has taken We Need to Talk About Kevin. Following a woman named Eva Khatchadourian (Tilda Swinton) who has a troubled relationship with her son Kevin (Ezra Miller) and has to deal with the guilt and social anger towards her after Kevin commits a horrible attack on his school killing and seriously injuring multiple other students. This is not a movie that would be made now at least to this scale, with the sheer amount of mass shootings and acts of violence happening in school across the nation this movie would create a war of people debating its morals and existence. Coming out in 2011 though where mass shootings were much less of a public discussion and occurrence the film did come out, there was enough emotion and power in the plot alone that I really hoped the movie would leave an impact on me maybe becoming something dark and haunting like Nightcrawler for example, it did help that Lynne Ramsay was directing this as I have an extreme amount of faith in her. Unfortunately at the end of the day, this movie overall felt like a disappointment for me.

What didn't disappoint was the performances in this film. Tilda Swinton has got quite a bit of attention and praise for her role here and it is absolutely deserved. Her character is complex and layered, she is suffering but is trying to repress her emotions and move on just to be able to survive. This is not an easy character to pull off and easily could have come across as dull or boring but she never did. It takes incredible control and understanding of a character to pull this off being one of Swinton's most impressive roles. In opposition, Ezra Miller is also really solid. So many people were introduced to Miller through his role as The Flash in Justice League but this is showing an entirely different side to him as an actor. He is gross and unnerving especially as you know where his character will end up going committing the horrible acts we keep flashing to throughout the film. Where I do have issues with his character, the performance here is really great and should have been a much bigger breakout role for Miller. With these two giving such intense and memorable performances John C. Reilly often gets lost in the conversation as Kevin's father. Similar to Ezra Miller, where we normally associate Reilly with more fun and comedic performances he is showing a different side of himself here. Finding himself in the middle of this war between Kevin and his mother he has to stay sane and is not willing to buy into the narrative that his son is some monster. He isn't always given a ton to chew on emotionally but whenever he does have a scene with substance Reilly really does deliver creating a really solid triangle of actors to lead us on this journey.

Sadly that journey just didn't do a lot for me. There are some really interesting ideas and perspectives in this movie like Eva having to deal with the consequences of her son's actions with many blaming her for Kevin having this darkness inside him. This is an interesting perspective we don't really see anywhere else, but when it comes to any thesis this film is trying to create about Kevin himself it struggles. The main issue was that there simply was no reason Kevin was so messed up, from the time he was a baby he had that tension and darkness inside him especially towards his mother. By making this a natural part of his character, Kevin becomes so much less interesting. As we see his childhood it no longer becomes about exploring what made him commit such a vile act but simply just seeing the already built road to destruction. The movie loses a level of commentary and purpose by ridding itself of really creating a compelling journey the character of Kevin goes on. One could say that the film is not qualified to make such a journey and could accidentally spread false ideas surrounding this type of tragedy but at what point does that fear sour the point of this movie? Why make this movie at all? As is the actual thesis this film comes to is uninteresting and lacks depth.
Overall, We Need to Talk About Kevin has some great performances and a genuinely great sense of tension and dread. Unfortunately, it only dances with having a strong narrative and purpose. At the end of the day, this film feels shallow and I can't find something in it from an idea standpoint that really stuck with me and affected me. It is a find psychological thriller but there is no part of it so captivating or engaging that it would become anything more.
Overall, We Need to Talk About Kevin has some great performances and a genuinely great sense of tension and dread. Unfortunately, it only dances with having a strong narrative and purpose. At the end of the day, this film feels shallow and I can't find something in it from an idea standpoint that really stuck with me and affected me. It is a find psychological thriller but there is no part of it so captivating or engaging that it would become anything more.