We Need to Talk About Kevin (Lynne Ramsay, 2011)

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Amy Racecar · #1 Post by **Amy Racecar** » Thu Apr 14, 2011 2:12 pm

Previously mentioned here, now that it's been announced as in competition at Cannes I think it deserves it's own thread. Morvern Callar is one of my favorite films, and so I'm looking forward to this in a big way.

Distribution is being handled in the UK by Artificial Eye and in a bunch of other places by a bunch of other companies, yet still nothing in the States. I think that ianungstad had a good point about how touchy US companies might be to pick it up back in January, but the Arizona shooting has fallen out of the media's attention so quickly that I don't imagine it'll be much of a problem if the movie gets enough buzz at Cannes. It's not-too-soon relevance might even turn into a selling point.

Tilda Swinton and John C. Reilly are filling the leading roles. I think this might actually turn out to be Ramsay's big break.

#2 Post by **mfunk9786** » Thu Apr 14, 2011 3:25 pm

What a title... sounds like one of those suicide awareness films they'd show us in health class.

ianungstad · #3 Post by **ianungstad** » Thu Apr 14, 2011 3:33 pm

While the Arizona shooting is not really a big news story at the moment, I still think distributors will be reluctant to pick the film up. The shooter hasn't went to trial yet (set for later this year) and I think that will get a lot of media play when that happens. Still seems like bad timing to me.

Ditto for Lasse Hallstrom's latest, Salmon Fishing in Yemen. Which is based off a true story about the British government trying to win political favor in Yemen and helping with a scheme to introduce salmon to the region. With the situation in the middle east, I don't see that exciting distributors.

#4 Post by **mfunk9786** » Thu Apr 14, 2011 4:13 pm

I don't think that's going to have any effect on a company like IFC or even an indie branch of a major studio picking up the film. HBO fronted the dough for Elephant, after all. There's no reason to believe this film, if it gets raves at Cannes, will have any distribution problems.

Jean-Luc Garbo · #5 Post by **Jean-Luc Garbo** » Thu Apr 14, 2011 4:30 pm

Here I was thinking that just Tilda Swinton leading the movie poster would get it picked up.

Amy Racecar · #6 Post by **Amy Racecar** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 5:14 pm

Stills

Late on this one but whatever.

#7 Post by **Matt** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 5:19 pm

That article mentions that Jonny Greenwood did the score, which I hadn't known. Looks like the set decorators had a grand time on this film: "Tampa Awaits," "Ma Ramsay's Tomato Soup."

ellipsis7 · #8 Post by **ellipsis7** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 8:01 pm

Amy Racecar wrote:Stills

Late on this one but whatever.

A lot of acting with knees, on top of the soup...

colinr0380 · #9 Post by **colinr0380** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 11:55 pm

The knee emphasis seems very Ratcatcher-esque!:

Cronenfly · #10 Post by **Cronenfly** » Mon May 09, 2011 8:15 pm

3 clips

Kellen · #11 Post by **Kellen** » Tue May 10, 2011 6:41 am

I'm really excited for this. Been awhile since Ramsay's last picture and judging from those clips it looks like it could be a good one.

JFarnsworth · #12 Post by **JFarnsworth** » Mon May 23, 2011 7:12 pm

Don't know if y'all heard, but Oscilloscope Laboratories picked up WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN and we'll be putting it out this winter!

#13 Post by **Matt** » Mon May 23, 2011 8:53 pm

Congrats and thanks. I know you'll do a good job with it.

John Cope · #14 Post by **John Cope** » Sun Aug 14, 2011 10:07 pm

Twitch has the UK trailer. Appropriately chilling and disturbing stuff. Still, I proceed with caution as Ramsay remains a mixed bag for me to date (loved Ratcatcher, hated Morvern Callar).

antnield · #15 Post by **antnield** » Fri Oct 21, 2011 5:31 pm

Sight and Sound.

#16 Post by **Finch** » Fri Oct 21, 2011 10:51 pm

Having seen the film a second time, I can say that no other film this year soured this hard on me like Kevin and it pains me to say this as a Ramsay fan. About the only thing that still held up was Swinton's performance, everything else struck me as laboured and heavy-handed on my second viewing. Easily ties with the Kore-eda as the year's greatest disappointment for me.

MichaelB · #17 Post by **MichaelB** » Sat Oct 22, 2011 10:17 am

A few weeks ago, I had a very funny email from our old friend Nothing berating Sight & Sound for "shilling" for the British film industry, and assuming that the only reason that they ran a very pro-British piece in connection with the Venice Film Festival is because they were ordered to by their paymasters (now that the BFI has taken over from the UK Film Council) - it couldn't possibly be because the British contingent at Venich might actually have been unusually good.

Naturally, he hadn't seen any of the films in question.

#18 Post by **domino harvey** » Sat Oct 22, 2011 12:48 pm

MichaelB wrote:Naturally, he hadn't seen any of the films in question.

That's how you can tell it was really him

tarpilot · #19 Post by **tarpilot** » Sat Oct 22, 2011 2:39 pm

Reading Rosenbaum's Movie Wars again, it's kind of amazing how much Nothing's arguments on critical hegemony resemble a version of it condensed into its most bitter, polemic essence

Jean-Luc Garbo · #20 Post by **Jean-Luc Garbo** » Sat Oct 22, 2011 4:25 pm

How great is John C. Reilly's presence in the film? I like him a great deal, but none of the reviews I've read focus on his contributions to the film.

zombeaner · #21 Post by **zombeaner** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 1:49 am

Jean-Luc Garbo wrote:How great is John C. Reilly's presence in the film? I like him a great deal, but none of the reviews I've read focus on his contributions to the film.

He's in a lot of the film, but doesn't make much impact on the plot or dynamic, IMO. It is all about "kevin" and Tilda.

Andre Jurieu · #22 Post by **Andre Jurieu** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 4:34 pm

zombeaner wrote:
Jean-Luc Garbo wrote:How great is John C. Reilly's presence in the film? I like him a great deal, but none of the reviews I've read focus on his contributions to the film.
He's in a lot of the film, but doesn't make much impact on the plot or dynamic, IMO. It is all about "kevin" and Tilda.

As Ramsay mentioned at TIFF this year, the movie functions as sort of a homage to Persona, with Eva (Swinton) and Kevin (Miller) engaged in a prolonged psychological stand-off with one another that takes place over a couple of decades. Unfortunately, that relegates Reilly to the sidelines, where he basically starts to morph into kind of a frustrating cad of a husband over the course of the narrative. It's really a thankless role despite his considerable ability.

Not surprisingly, Swinton is quite affecting and impressive in this, as is Ramsay's direction of Swinton's struggles, but I just wasn't that engaged by Miller's performance. I'm sure some critics will fawn over his icy-cold stare, meant to convey all his unfathomable depravity and hidden menace, but I honestly thought his performance was rather bland and without much depth. Rather than presenting anything novel or surprising, Miller's role functions more as a hollow imitation of what the general conception of an adolescent sociopath would be, and while that might hint at the concept of adolescent sociopaths embracing their role as a villain while believing their actions serve as performance, it's execution still feels overly contrived - basically like a mechanical impersonation of other serial-killer performances that an overly ostentatious theatre-kid would create as an emulation of a "disturbed soul". However, Miller isn't aided by the final moments of the film, which include a marginally redemptive scene (or at least an attempt at one) that robs the film of much of its intended impact, since it negates much of Eva's anguish and guilt.

Ruby · #23 Post by **Ruby** » Tue Nov 01, 2011 2:27 pm

Andre Jurieu wrote: I just wasn't that engaged by Miller's performance. I'm sure some critics will fawn over his icy-cold stare, meant to convey all his unfathomable depravity and hidden menace, but I honestly thought his performance was rather bland and without much depth.

I don't think that is Miller's fault as the film seemed unsure about how to present his character. On one level, he presented as innate evil - conceived at midnight, which I found a bit silly, another level has him a characterless psychopath with a perfectly bland room, and on a more interesting level he is just hyper-intelligent. If Ramsay pursued the later rather than the horror, Kevin would have been more compelling. There are some subtle touches - the school extols 'pride, focus, and great things' in vapid posters, which Kevin perversely exemplifies – but the character is drawn too thin and spread across too many genres.

I really liked the end- it made sense to me- he has annihilated all other sources of meaning in his mother’s life thereby creating a ‘rebirth’ whereby he is the vulnerable child she must care for.

#24 Post by **Jeff** » Sat Nov 12, 2011 5:49 am

Andre Jurieu wrote:I'm sure some critics will fawn over his icy-cold stare, meant to convey all his unfathomable depravity and hidden menace, but I honestly thought his performance was rather bland and without much depth. Rather than presenting anything novel or surprising, Miller's role functions more as a hollow imitation of what the general conception of an adolescent sociopath would be, and while that might hint at the concept of adolescent sociopaths embracing their role as a villain while believing their actions serve as performance, it's execution still feels overly contrived - basically like a mechanical impersonation of other serial-killer performances that an overly ostentatious theatre-kid would create as an emulation of a "disturbed soul". However, Miller isn't aided by the final moments of the film, which include a marginally redemptive scene (or at least an attempt at one) that robs the film of much of its intended impact, since it negates much of Eva's anguish and guilt.

Completely agree with all of this. While I was very impressed with the film overall, I was disappointed that Ramsay chose to portray Kevin as evil incarnate, with a demonic look in his eyes from the time he's a toddler. Miller is really just aping the younger Kevin's icy stare. At my screening, Ramsay told about how Miller studied the younger actor, mimicking his walk and mannerisms. The little kid said, "His Kevin swallowed my Kevin." The problem with all of that is that their is no dimensionality to the character. He's almost completely one-note, which makes the concept of "how did it come to this" far less interesting. Again though, there is a lot to admire. Swinton is amazing as usual, Ramsay's use of red is heavy-handed but effective, and the film contains some of the most wonderfully composed shots of the year.

MoonlitKnight · #25 Post by **MoonlitKnight** » Mon Nov 14, 2011 3:48 am

Sounds very similar to last year's "Beautiful Boy" with Michael Sheen and Maria Bello. It'll be interesting to compare the two.

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