We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) - I guess I will start by saying, spoiler alert. I would have appreciated this film more if I hadn't known so much about it going in. I guess that is very often true, but in this case more than most. So if you are going to watch it, I recommend skipping this little review (although maybe you already know the key detail and I can't spoil it any more).
Anyway, this is a very dark, bleak, depressing tale of a child who grows into a strange misfit and ends up committing a Columbine type atrocity. Just as much, it is the story of his mother before, during and after.
It is very haunting, I will give it that. The performance of Tilda Swinton is outstanding. The stylistic jumping-around-in-time was used to very good effect. Other side of the coin, there is a lot of very broad, obvious symbolism that I found more annoying than enhancing.
But at its root, it is an awful story. Sometimes you hear about feel-good movies - well this is a feel-bad movie. It's unpleasant and uncomfortable throughout.
If there is a point, I couldn't say what it was. It was always trapped in a nowhere-land between The Omen - a kid who is born just plain evil and horrible for no discernable reason - and a realistic exploration of Columbine (or whatever). I'm not sure what they were going for. It was not as good at being The Omen as The Omen. It was not as good at exploring a Columbine situation as Elephant.
Reminds me of a quote. I don't remember who said it or why but it applies here: "There is no point. It is just some shit that happened."
It is highly rated at imdb. 7.5. Some people like it. I give it a 5.2
exactly what I thought. this whole gender switching thing was interesting... never. ok I liked Tootsie.
