We Need To Talk About Kevin

Many people get nervous when they find out they are about to become parents. Will they be a good parents. But what if that feeling was justified.

Much like 'Burning Man', director Lynne Ramsay, has created a film that jumps around in time to tell its story. I think it is a clever way of telling the story because you do not know where it is going. You know it is building up to something big but you don't know what that is.

This is a clever story about the nature of evil and where it originates. Can someone be born evil or bad? This film proposes that theory. Kevin's evil nature is all directed at his mother and seems to be building up over his life time to completely ruin her life. Many films like to play up the very close bond that mothers have with their sons, but what if the opposite was the case. I don't think that Kevin could hate his mother even more. As I said his every move seems to be a calculated effort to ruin her mothers life. It is all building up to a major event. We see what Eva's life is like after the horrible things her son does and you really feel sorry for her. One of the problems I had with the film is why Eva is being blamed for the actions of her son. After what he does, Eva is really ostracised from the community and vilified. I don't get that. While she may have been Kevin's mother, I'm not sure there is much she could have done to prevent what he did. Kevin is very clever in displaying his evil tendencies and as a result his father is oblivious to what he does. So even if Eva spoke up I'm sure that no one would have believed her.

Tilda Swinton is simply an amazing actress. While she does come across as very cold most of the time, it does seem to work for the role she takes. Here she is excellent as a mother who is being held hostage emotionally by the one person in the world who is supposed to love her unconditionally. I love how John C. Reilly does these smaller independent films sometimes. He is great here. The greatest performances though are that of the three young men who play Kevin at his various stages of life. Rock Duer and Jasper Newell are brilliant as the younger stages. Their looks are all they need to give to display their intentions. They make great evil boys. Ezra Miller as the older Kevin is equally as brilliant. He can go from the nasty young man to the sweet guy so easily. His actions are so cold and calculated.

A film for all those parents who are worried they might be raising an evil child. Use this as a barometer and a way of telling if your child is truly evil. For everyone else go see it as another reason for not having children.