We Need To Talk About Kevin

Director:  Lynne Ramsey
Cast: Tilda Swinton, Ezra Miller and John C Reilly
Releasing in cinemas: 17  November 2011
Rated: MA 15+

Forget Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark and those ghostie flicks, here's a psychological thriller which mercilessly leads you down an unrelenting dark path to the horrifying conclusion. We Need To Talk About Kevin is a disturbing drama presented in striking visual manner with a moderate amount of dialogue. From the early high shot of a crowd enveloped in tomato gunge, the often unpalatable images drag you into this nightmare of family disintegration. Be warned - it's powerful and affecting with Tilda Swinton in her most notable role as a woman slipping into desperation - one of the most impressive performances since a young Catherine Deneuve in Polanski's Repulsion.

The film opens in the present with Eva (Swinton) reflecting on shocking events in her dysfunctional family. Her memories are a heightened reality commencing with an ominous shot of billowing curtains with a strange rhythmic sound in the background, an image later repeated with devastating effect. Cutting to a writhing sea of bodies in the Tomatina Festival in Spain where Eva is hoisted aloft by the crowd, her limbs in a crucifixion position, smothered in the red tomato juice. The motive of red runs throughout the film, from paint to jam with the texture of blood. In a series of flashbacks and flash-forwards, layers of the story are revealed like the peeling of an onion, until the awful core is revealed.

Seems a pity the climax of the story is given away in the trailer and advertising, because it comes as a nasty shock if you don't know. It’s enough to say Kevin is involved in a high school massacre. In the early sequences we flash forward to the aftermath of this event, when Eva has her meagre house sprayed with red paint by hostile locals. The poor woman struggles to clean the building. The atmosphere is one of grungy decay. Everything is corroding away; posters flap from the wall in the tourist bureau where Eva works.

The scene switches to Kevin as a baby - he never stops crying and driving Eva demented (think Rosemary’s Baby). There’s a neat sequence with her resting the pram near a loud pneumatic drill. He's an unnatural little boy, at first thought to be autistic, yet perhaps there's resident evil here. When Eva plays with the child in a simple game with a large red ball, Kevin feigns no interest, but just watch his eyes. She reads him Robin Hood, which captures his interest. Later we see he's certainly into computer games and archery, shooting at targets with a fanatic enthusiasm - a nod to the future.

Kevin (Ezra Miller) hoodwinks his unhappy father Franklin (John C. Reilly), smooching up to him while giving Eva the cold treatment. He seems to harbour a special hatred of his adoring young sister, and her pet guinea pig meets an unpleasant fate in the garbage disposal unit. You think it can't get much worse, but of course it does. After his arrest, Kevin has little interest when his mother visits him in jail, sitting there carefully biting his fingernails. Uncomfortable behavior of this type reflects Kevin's mental state, keeping you on edge. The director never lets her audience off the hook. When at last the Columbine-style massacre is shown, it can only topped off in horror by the final shot.

Directed by the talented Lynne Ramsey (Morvern Caller) with her foot firmly on the gas pedal, working from her screenplay with Rory Stewart Kinnear, based on Lional Shriver's novel. Making Damien from The Omen look positively angelic, Kevin as a child would frighten Lucifer himself. Played by Rocky Duer as a toddler, Kevin's scary at an early age. Between 6 and 8 years, Jasper Newell takes over with evil cunning; while Ezra Miller has the role as the chilling teenager.

Eva worries how responsible she may have been for her son's deadly rampage, or is he simply a sociopath and fundamentally evil. Tilda Swinton (Burn After Reading) with her gaunt features and dark sad eyes, is haunting as she portrays the distressed woman trying to hide her concern for the increasingly difficult child. It's a stunning performance, with excellent support from Ezra Miller (City Island) as the unnerving Kevin, and John C. Reilly (Step Brothers) as the ineffective father.

Atmosphere hangs heavy with dark images captured in arresting compositions by Seamus McGarvey. The Halloween sequence is presented in wild bursts of colour. Country music makes for ironic comment, as does the film's title. You'll need to keep your wits about you to follow the time shifts in the early stages.

After an absence from the screen Lynne Ramsay has created a remarkable and confronting film demanding your attention throughout.

John Bale