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We Need to Talk About Kevin – 2011 Ramsay
- I’ve read “an artsy look at The Omen” and “heavily influenced by eraserhead” and I think both work
- First off—it’s absolutely, and gorgeously, drenched in red. – We have the opening of Swinton at a huge outdoor party/concert/no idea in red (tomatoes?)—perhaps a flashback of her youth but the narrative is very fractured so it’s not clear—
- Countless usages of red tinting and red paint—red Clifford dog, red ball, red shirts, red alarm clock emphasized, red chairs at the travel agency where she works, red jelly in sandwich, red ketchup with eggs, tomato soup background at store, red wine in almost every scene, red police lights accentuated-
- It’s glorious expressionism with Swinton (who is superb) as her vehicle through a realistic nightmare (though not in mise-en-scene or narrative)—she’s almost catatonic or a zombie- and justifiably so horrifying
- In the latter part I realized it’s not just red but yellows used in the mise-en-scene so often as well (car)
- It’s a collage of the different memories and time planes— portrait of a killer
- It’s a bit stretched at 110 minutes- I think there’s a 85 minute film in here that’s top 5 of the year quality—
- Very odd folk soundtrack I think is a miss- seems so out of tune—give me something more hypnotic or driving instead
- a Must-See film, like Morvern Callar– the hypnotic nature of the film is staying with me so I have moved it up
Drake2022-01-15T14:38:56+00:00
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This film is so brilliant, just so brilliant. The Swinton character is really something else; I think we rarely get to see such complicated roles. There is a lot of red, now that you’re mentioning it, and this particular point made me immediately notice how everything about the film is reddish, except for Kevin’s room, which is deep blue.
It is a very daring film and a quite underrated one. Tilda Swinton is spectacular; I think she has an undeniable talent for internalised performances and a way of doing more with silence than most actors would do with words straight out of Shakespeare’s work. This movie really demonstrates her talents and even though vastly different from Orlando, it is up there with her best performances.
The movie in general really dives deeper than what one would expect and it confronts us with the terrifying reality that there is a monster inside every human and a human inside every monster (and I honestly don’t know which is worse). We are forced to face the indigestible truth that no matter how atrocious a person’s actions may be, we may still need them or be emotionally paralysed by them. It is much more disturbing than it seems and unfortunately very real – maybe too much so.
I just wanted to point out something that I just read somewhere and it makes for very interesting conversation, but mainly adds to the layers of the film. The truth is that the only time we see Kevin in an undeniably objective light and not through the memory of Eva, is when she visits him in jail. There he seems like a totally different person. We see emotions, we see what appears like Rosemary’s baby for much of the film be overwhelmed by the reality he has created. It almost seems as if Swinton’s character is really not the most reliable narrator. We see her turn away from Kevin, feeling that he has taken everything from her and trying to replace motherly love with superficial affection, devoid of real love. We see Kevin bearing an uncanny resemblance to his mother, in terms of appearance, but also in terms of emotional distance. What is he trying to prove? Why doesn’t he kill Eva as well? Eva is an unloving mother. Eva is also a victim, someone punished cruelly for their feelings by a mentally ill child. Kevin is unloved. Kevin is also a psychopath. Kevin is a mass murderer and a monster. And at the same time he is human. God, how I love this film.
@Georg– thanks for sharing- what a great addition to the page. I think the film is superb as well. I saw it in 2018 here and it absolutely stuck with me. I think it’s the strongest Ramsay film yet, and even moved it up a grade in Feb 2020 when I wrote her page http://thecinemaarchives.com/2020/02/05/the-144th-best-director-of-all-time-lynne-ramsay/
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