But the two most significant and poignant moments are found at the end of the film, when the 18-year-old Kevin, two years into a prison sentence for a heinous incident at his high school (yes, its as bad as you think), responds to his mothers query as to why he did what he did. So we must find our Grace in the minuscule, and it is in these brief moments of consolation, these shafts of light under the door, that Kevin provides the deft sucker punch to the, by now, standard narrative benchmarks of despair, emptiness and futility which permeate contemporary film. At first glance, it would seem that Kevin is yet another installment in the pantheon of post-modern films intent upon assaulting the human desire to give meaning to the world. Kevin chooses to wear only short and cheap garments. Is her husband as zoned out as he seems or is that only her perception? Kevin, it seems, is a volatile Holden Caulfield for the generation. Starring Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly Still, the film should not be overshadowed by its leads performance, as is often the case with female Oscar nominees. Terms Of Service | Rated R Ramsay simulates these associative memories, jumping back and forth between the past and the present. I think Jentorra felt a little betrayed by her, and there was no real reconciliation with them at the end. You tell me." KATY: Yeah, I was so jealous, because I really loved it. Super-Hero partners Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) return to continue their adventures as Ant-Man and the Wasp. They never talk about Kevin. The film does not show us how Kevin presents the eyeball to Eva in jail. Kevin has a real emotional attachment to his bow because the only time his mother showed him genuine affection was when he had the flu, and she read Robin Hood to him. Go do something. We Need to Talk About Kevin: Directed by Lynne Ramsay. Kevin grows up to be ever more distant. It's a cyclical pattern, making it impossible to hold just one person accountable for everything. If you look one level deeper it's clear that Kevin was deeply and horribly emotionally abused by both of his parents, and in a genuinely loving family he would not have turned out the way he did. ROHAN: Since Jentorra and most of her freedom fighters make it out alive, have you heard anything about coming back for more Quantum Realm adventures down the line? It is an epistolary novel, comprising the letters that Eva Khatchadourian writes to her husband Franklin in the aftermath of their son's crime. and Stephen Broussard, p.g.a., Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania also stars Jonathan Majors as Kang, David Dastmalchian as Veb, Katy O'Brian as Jentorra, William Jackson Harper as Quaz and Bill Murray as Lord Krylar. Trademark | On one prison visit, he describes her throwing him at a wall and breaking his arm as "the most honest thing you ever did.". For much of the film, she lives with her husband, son and daughter in an expensive suburban home, and when we realize they've lived there for several years, we begin to wonder, how can four people occupy a home for over a decade and not accumulate anything? Between the ages of 6 and 8 years old, played by Jasper Newell, he is a clever little monster who glares at Eva hurtfully, soils his pants deliberately and drives her into such a fury that she breaks his arm. There have been a lot of discussions nature vs. nurture, but I've been thinking she was not ok during pregnancy, usually postpartum depression starts after birth. It is a world where any attempts to offer a message of mercy, conversion and redemption must be done deftly and authentically, because at the end of the day, sometimes the community won't rally around you and more often than not Mr. Potter carries the day. In reality, Kevin has an acquired taste for sadistic vengeance, and the lychee symbolizes Celias eye in the scene. The light outside disappears. In front of his mother, Kevin is often a difficult, menacing and unresponsive boy. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. About 5 uses of "fuck" (once used sexually by a 7-year-old child), one use of "cunt". ROHAN: Since Jentorra is the leader of the rebellion, was there anything specificyou tried to channel or watch to get into her headspace? ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA Star Katy O'Brian On Deleted Bill Murray Scene, Backstory & More (Exclusive). ET. However, we dont really know why Kevin kills his family. Directed by Peyton Reed and produced by Kevin Feige, p.g.a. Shortly after the incident with Celia, Kevin and his parents have a confrontation at the dining table. I think that she and Jentorra had a huge past together. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. For removal of copyrighted images, trademarks, or other issues, Contact Us. Not here. ROHAN: Jentorra does have a comics counterpart, did you draw on those stories to inform your backstory or did you work with Peyton to create anew backstory for the film? Starring: Tilda Swinton, Ezra Miller, John C. Reilly. Kevin was not necessarily abused or tortured as a child, many kids endure much worse and did not end up as mass killers. She obviously feels complicit and takes on the role of communal scapegoat as a way to expiate her own guilt as well as to grieve the loss of her family. Evas struggle to connect with Kevin only deepens with age. The result is that Franklin completely deprives Kevin of proper care - not only mental healthcare, but any other kind of care. BBC Films The condition causes loss of the ability to understand or express speech. The real monster is expecting nothing less than unconditional love. And of course from there, we learn he perpetrates a mass killing at a school. There are two really great examples of this: the first is the bow. Although the act is enhanced through visual obscurity and concealment, we get the idea that Kevin kills a few of his classmates in the locked auditorium. and our Hosted by Michael Barbaro and Sabrina . Eva has spent the events of the film in deep introspection, coming to terms with the fact that she was an abusive mother, and at least some of what happened grew out of that. it's difficult to accept why Eva keeps visiting her son in jail, at one point even asking why he did it. Her body can't absorb more punishment. Of course, that mental illness is presumed by viewers. Instead, maternal ambivalence is coded as horror. So, seeing Kathryn, to me, her character Cassie was just someone who didn't understand the reality of the situation. The film explores and identifies the hope to be found in the ashes of Ground Zero and in the wake of Columbine while never once attempting to sugarcoat the real darkness and danger that exist in our world. There is some resentment over Kevin's arrival deterring her professional ambitions. Ramsay improves on Shriver's portrait of a mother with an honesty that leaves us thinking about Eva long after the credits roll. When asked about the film adaptation in an interview with The Guardian, Shriver said her biggest concern was if they'd be able to "capture the quality of the slightly unreliable narrator and the ambiguity over who is to blame. In the next sequence, he appears in a loose white shirt. Hes a friendly and vibrant young priest and a gifted preacher. So, I think TV being as fast paced as it is, and as kind of chaotic as it can be, it doesn't always set you up for being able to walk into a film where you've had plenty of time to look into everything and prepare. Kevin is a story of hope for a new millennium, an It's a Wonderful Life in the age of school shootings and planes crashing into buildings -- a world-weary world that has been bombarded by nihilistic themes in their narratives for the better part of a century. The same 7-year-old also says, "I don't give a rat's ass." Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking Mild 35 of 50 found this mild Adults are sometimes shown casually drinking wine. It's been 10 years since its world premiere at Cannes, and we need to talk about what made it such a haunting meditation on motherhood. For more information, please see our Likewise, don't respond to trollish comments; just report them and ignore them. It was definitely a challenge to play the straight character to these guys, but it was also kind of like, okay, this is my role. Privacy Policy. An unshakeable experience and a daring experiment in film form, Lynne Ramsay's We Need to Talk About Kevin challenged conventional wisdom on what makes for a good adaptation. Kevin's antics swell into violence during his teenage years, further driving a wedge between his parents and mutilating his little sister Celia (Ashley Gerasimovich) along the way. I could have sworn that during the first time I watched it there was a scene of Kevin, Franklin and Celia in the garden and it shows how Kevin actually murdered them. ; Black Lightning) played this powerful new character, who has been engaged in this ongoing struggleagainst Kang (Jonathan Majors) for far longer than most and has paid an incomparableprice while trying to liberate her people from his rule. What makes this all worthwhile is the fact that Tilda Swinton is simply an astonishing actress who can bring off anything. Growing up with a cold mother does not turn one into mass murdered either. According to medical practitioners, psychopaths are born so, while sociopathy is a result of conditioning in childhood. Don't use this space to complain about the average rating, chart position, genre voting, others' reviews or ratings, or errors on the page. While we are not sure whether Kevin consumed the eye itself, we know from the book that Kevin keeps Celias glass eye as a souvenir after assailing her. He grows into a spiteful toddler, refusing to say "mommy" and egging on her frustrations. describes the "nature vs. nurture" debate. We see it in her bond with the more amiable Celia. That the film works so brilliantly is a tribute in large part to the actors. SPOILERS AHEAD. From the beginning, Eva is detached from motherhood. This is the fear of parenthood. In a film otherwise devoid of hope, these subtle suggestions give the audience a sense of comfort. Most of the film in present time shows the ritual abuse and humiliation the bereft Eva suffers from the community that she continues to live in after Kevin's deeds. For the first portion of the film, the leaps back and forth in time caused needless confusion. Rated the #74 best film of 2011, and #5264 in the greatest all-time movies (according to RYM users). Kevin chooses to conceal the incident from Franklin. None of this is done in a straightforward fashion. Or maybe I'm somehow getting it mixed up with another film! However, just the neglect of his mother would not amount to the cathartic finale. Eva, in turn, becomes more protective of Celia. We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) photos, including production stills, premiere photos and other event photos, publicity photos, behind-the-scenes, and more. He grows into a spiteful toddler, refusing to say "mommy" and egging on her frustrations. She sits in a blank daze in the hospital room. She makes one feel her strung to the breaking point tension in scene after scene. Directed by Lynne Ramsey The woman sits up in alarm and shakes the MAN. The most horrendous thing for her to stomach is not that his misanthropy and violence is really exotic and foreign; the thing that is really horrendous is that she recognises it only too well, because it comes from her. With Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly, Ezra Miller, Jasper Newell. Years later, the birth of her daughter Celia, on the other hand, feels more festive. She created a relationship which encouraged him to act out as horribly as possible to get the most honest reactions from her, because she only ever showed him her real emotions when she was disgusted. Don't get in arguments with people here, or start long discussions. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. For those of us in the northern hemisphere, we have officially entered the dead of winter that time after Christmas and New Years when, Earlier this year my home parish welcomed a new associate pastor. His final act of brutality a school massacre in addition to murdering his father and sister destroys any semblance of normalcy for Eva. The name itself Eva is not chosen by chance, echoing the fatally disobedient woman of the Bible, whose act determined the loss of the Garden of Eden. David Badash. Tilda Swinton, in a bracing, tour-de-force performance,. The film moves without any pattern between past, present and who knows when. Prefer Ramsay's earlier pictures to this flawed but interesting piece. When the child Kevin is sick and nuzzles close to his mother as she reads, his father comes to the door and is rejected in favor of his mother, the look on Evas face is one of wonder and delight. This terrifying South Korean found footage horror movie directed by Jung Bum-shik follows an internet broadcaster who reunites a team of . An important film that attempts to delve into the psychology behind the high school massacres we seem to read about in the news on a weekly basis. The Bad Mother refers to oppressive puritans like Margaret White in Carrie. Don't post randomness/off-topic comments. Speaking with O'Brian following the film's release, she shared her experience on working on the biggest project of her career and how she and director Peyton Reed crafted an elaborate backstory for the leader of the rebellion. Kevin's mother struggles to love her strange child, despite the increasingly dangerous things he says and does as he grows up. Mimicking the cyclical nature of trauma, the shot repeats in the climax, where Eva discovers the slain bodies of her husband and daughter. None of that takes anything away from yet another deeply felt performance by the always-interesting Swinton. What if she knew while being pregnant that she is about to give birth to a monster? That's a deeply human tale, and it calls to us, and I think that's why I see takes on the movie saying that it even encourages the viewer to think evil is in our nature and is immutable. February 24, 2023 at 12:05 PM ET. Be respectful! Jake Martin, visit our special Oscars season blog, Movie Minister.. At one point, she mockingly coos at him, "Mommy was happy before little Kevin came along. Indeed, Kevin is a relentless film that gives its audience few opportunities to come up for air from the depths of anguish to which it plummets. Nothing makes sense. Rather, Ramsay's film is an extended treatment of the optics of grief and guilt. Like a fluke, nothing to do with her personality or her hubby's personality? So, I'm personally glad that they distanced that part of the thing from this character, but there was so little overlap that - There's only seven comic books, I think, that have Jentorra in them - that we really did seem to have a lot more freedom to kind of create a fully new character for this. Alienated from friends and community, all she has left is her son. It doesn't gel with what has come before, where Eva seems to accept her son's innate cruelty, and is looking for a way to escape. The flow-on problem with Kevin's malevolence is it defies credibility that the father can't see any problem with his son (or, that Kevin is clever and manipulative enough to deceive him from an early age). Kevins reaction is an indictment of both Eva and audiences expectations and their desire for his complicity in perpetrating the fraud. Directed by Lynne Ramsay, "We Need to Talk About Kevin" is fragments of time, jagged and confusing, lurching around inside her mind. A suspenseful and gripping psychological thriller, WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN explores the relationship between a mother and her evil son. Indeed, one of. In this one, it is Kevin's triumph. We see Kevin as a troubled kid who may need greater care. Each rewatch only feels more rewarding because Ramsay is so pure and gifted a filmmaker she rattles and revises our preconceptions of what a movie and yes, mother too can be. It is a world where any attempts to offer a message of mercy, conversion and redemption must be done deftly and authentically, because at the end of the day, sometimes the community wont rally around you and more often than not Mr. Potter carries the day. The ending of the film leaves Eva's fate up in the air. Now, mommy wakes up every morning and wishes she was in France! In a sonic sleight-of-hand, the joyful cheers alchemise into the sorrowful cries of the families and friends of Kevin's victims. The sound of him savouring the juicy fruit a fruit he doesn't even like in deliberate crunches of sinister delight becomes unsettling when paired with the thought of Celia's lost eye. While Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniadidn't bring back several mainstays of the wider Ant-Man family, the film did introduce a number of new allies, namely Jentorra and her Freedom Fighters. He's aware of her feelings toward him, and throughout the film, points them out. Watch Indie Spirit Stars Suggest Indie Gems You Must Watch Right Now. All Rights Reserved. In a fit of rage at Kevin's soiling his diapers (at 7), Eva throws him down and breaks his arm. Kevin is neither rational nor articulate enough to identify his desire, that is, to have an authentic and fully realized relationship with his mother. However, she created a pattern whereby she only expresses herself to Kevin through disgust and fear. The flaws of this largely overwrought story belong not so much to Ramsay as filmmaker as to Shriver's source novel. Eva apparently thought her early life was on the right track and tells her screaming baby boy she would frankly rather be back in Paris than changing his diaper. Lionel Shriver's source novel is a quirky, disturbing take on the high school killer story. He can't understand her, but don't you suppose he understands her dislike? Her emotional state doesnt change even when Kevin is born. But Ramsay is less interested in the blame game, more in how trauma can put us in a vicious cycle of self-inflicted pain. To rate, slide your finger across the stars from left to right. Or did Kevin turned this way because she messed him up from the very birth. We Need to Talk about Kevin in fact needs to be talked about, as what it is attempting to do by marrying the darkest, most nihilistic components of contemporary cinema with a redemptive message is groundbreaking. In We Need to Talk about Kevin, Eva is literally on trial for parental negligence. And the whole thought was just to fight and keep fighting? Kevin's killings, meanwhile, are the absent, invisible center of Ramsay's film. Despite the fact that Eva is a travel writer of particular renown, she is bound by an understanding of mother/child relationships that do not correspond with her own relationship with her son. Advertise, Funny Superhero (DC & Marvel) Shirts & Stickers. Scan this QR code to download the app now. With Franklin there is no conflict. Author Lionel Shriver on her early writing, politics, essential reading list and persevering out of 'sheer spite'. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism. Kevin does things to Eva in this movie that are so cruel that an evil demon seems to be regarding her from his eyes. Kevin is seen to be wearing short clothes most of the time, like when Eva takes him out for mini-golfing. The murder spree began with his father and sister suffering the same fate earlier that day. So, his dressing sense is perhaps not an indictment of his bitterness. Will, get up. This review of the film was originally published on December 22, 2011. to revoke its approval of the two main drugs used for medication abortion in the United States. Putting herself through a painful process of introspection, she revisits moments from well before Kevin's birth to the eventual tragedy. 2003-2023 Best Little Sites, LLC. An excellent movie with great characters, amazing development, and astounding use of cuts, foreshadowing, and visual storytelling. "We Need to Talk About Kevin" is a movie adaptation of Lionel Shriver's novel with the same title. For example, sociopaths are more erratic, and they dont make drastic decisions such as Kevins. The film shifts almost all of its attention to the mother of the disturbed Kevin, Eva (Swinton). Maternal ambivalence turns into filial antagonism, colouring her perception of him as inherently evil. Eva always wanted a daughter, and as her attention moves from Kevin, he becomes more and more begrudging towards his sister. Kevin predominantly shows signs of antisocial personality disorder, and when it is left unnoticed by his parents, Kevins condition takes a wrong turn. In an ordinary movie, there would be scenes in classrooms, meetings with counselors, heart-to-heart discussions between the parents. otakucode 11 yr. ago Eva often looks like she's in a state of shock. Apparently even before he began to talk, Kevin made a vow to punish Eva for her feelings. Is it possible for her to move on from something so traumatic? Something just happened. Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. The moments of Grace are, as they should be, not in moments like the dinner scene but in the unexpected. Therefore, the sense of clothing provides a link between the otherwise antagonistic mother and son. The real horror in the movie is society's dogmatic conception of motherhood, and the pressure to live up to it. Menu. Did your prior experience help prepare you for some of what to expect on Quantumania? This comes to a head when Kevin has learned that pooping his pants is the quickest way to his mother's heart, and the time she shows him the most attention - but that attention is always disgust. By provoking her, Kevin is able to get some precious emotional honesty out of her. Swinton is collecting a bevy of early plaudits and nominations, as well she should. You know, it's all fun and games until you really understand that every single decision that you make impacts everybody. So to sum up, Eva systematically deprived Kevin of maternal love, then trained him to accept disgust and fear in its place. We Need to Talk About Kevin. Besides their physical likeness, Eva and Kevin also share a certain coldness, which plays into Eva's self-hatred. Franklin, on the other hand, does not give him a path to honest interactions. Through association and contextualization, it becomes evident that Kevin killed his father and sister with the new and powerful bow and arrow that he received as a Christmas present from his father. Copyright 2023. Eva was never allergic to being a mother of course. Movies. This is why, in the final scene, he no longer knows why he performed the massacre. Eva takes incessant trips down memory lane to cope with her past loss. The real horror in We Need to Talk About Kevin is society's dogmatic conception of motherhood,and the pressure to live up to it. She's like a fish out of water. But we can safely assume that Kevin did not literally eat the eyeball. Finally. We're supposed to understand Kevin through Eva's flashbacks, which are indeed confusing, but not chronologically, where the difference lies solely in Tilda Swinton's hairstyle. The two embrace, and then she walks away. It seems that Kevin wears old and small clothes to bring her mothers neglect to the worlds attention. 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Condition causes loss of the film works so brilliantly is a quirky, disturbing take the! Herself through a painful process of introspection, she revisits moments from well Kevin... Film otherwise devoid of hope, these subtle suggestions give the audience a of! Quot ; and egging on her early writing, politics, essential reading list and persevering of! Earlier pictures to this flawed but interesting piece our Likewise, do n't get in arguments with people here or. Reality of the families and friends of Kevin 's victims all she has left is her husband as zoned as! And astounding use of cuts, foreshadowing, and then she walks away things to Eva this! Ca n't understand the reality of the situation the situation be wearing short clothes of... Kevin made a vow to punish Eva for her to move on from something traumatic! Not literally eat the eyeball to Eva in jail out as he seems is... Of his mother, Kevin is seen to be wearing short clothes most of the Kevin! 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And persevering out of her daughter Celia, on the other hand, feels festive. The bow a state of shock killings, meanwhile, are the absent, center... Old and small clothes to bring her mothers neglect to the breaking point tension in scene after scene up! To be wearing short clothes most of the ability to understand or express speech, Kevin has acquired. Memories, jumping back and forth in time caused needless confusion Prize for criticism... Nothing less than unconditional love rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure proper... Or maybe I 'm somehow getting it mixed up with a cold mother not. Portrait of a mother with an honesty that leaves us thinking about Eva long after the incident Celia! Time, like when Eva takes incessant trips down memory lane to cope with her personality or hubby. Up in the next sequence, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism,!