We Need To Talk About "Kevin"

Here's an email I recently sent to my friends Madelyn and Shirley:

Shirley and Madelyn,

Hello you two! Since I’ve talked about We Need to Talk About Kevin the most with you, I figured I’d shoot you both a missive regarding the film, which I watched last night. First things first: It’s a pretty good movie! Better than I was expecting. I was so worried about the subtleties of the story, and about the casting – and while I still think John C. Reilly was miscast (Aaron Eckhart for Franklin, anyone?), Tilda Swinton and Ezra Miller both did a dynamite job as the mother-and-son tag team from hell.

So here’s the deal: the film is very, very different in terms of style and presentation. I thought I might worry about this, but then I realized – on second thought – that with a story such as this you want a director (in this case, Lynne Ramsay) who has a personal vision for the story, who puts their own stamp on things. And Ramsay does just that; you can feel her connection to these characters through her own filter. It’s now how *I* would have directed it, and I suspect you both “read” it in a similar way to me, but I respect that Ramsay gave viewers such an intimate, intense, specific way of watching things unfold. It’s a glimpse into Lionel Shriver’s mind AND Lynne Ramsay’s mind at the same time. I even watched one of the extras with Lionel Shriver, and she did encourage Ramsay to make a FILM about this story, rather than just trying to get the book up on the screen (if that makes sense). Mission accomplished.

Admittedly, I didn’t feel totally sucked in – I always felt like an outsider while watching it. And I won’t be thinking about the movie much over time, as compared to the book. Still, it was a worthwhile couple hours, and I do recommend you give the film Kevin a try….so we can talk about him/it!

Warmly,
Nathan