We Need to Talk About Kevin is a difficult movie. It’s not every body’s cup of Drano. But this parenting horror film with echoes of The Bad Seed will have ardent fans. Tilda Swinton deserves an Oscar nomination for a scrubbed raw performance as a hip adventurous mother who’s life takes a turn for the worse once she has a son Kevin with photograph John C. Reilly. Is it just that the kid — who grows up to be hot rising star Ezra Miller — is a bad seed, or is it the mother’s inability to bond that twists him. Nature or nurture? The movie’s intense emotions are rooted in mundane domestic strife – it’s the rare parent who hasn’t at least considered strong-arming a disobedient child during potty training, and reacted in ways that they’d prefer not to admit to themselves much less show others. This is brave storytelling directed by a woman — Lynne Ramsay — with an interesting female character shouldering the narrative. It’s definitely worth talking about — and open for Oscar consideration for Swinton’s performance.
