We Need to Talk About Kevin

We Need to Talk About Kevin is a 2011 family drama physiological- thriller directed by Lynne Ramsay staring Tilda Swinton as the Mother Eva of her child Kevin and her relationship with him as well as her coping with what he has done and is based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Lionel Shriver . 

Narrative wise the film is not chronological in its story telling. It jumps between time periods of Eva in different moments in her life. We go between one time line of her from when Kevin was a baby and him growing up gradually but this is also interspersed with Eva's current state of mind and life after the main events in the film. This is a very clever technique as it makes us as the audience try and pin the pieces together and work out what has and what is happening in the story. 

Colour is also a very effective motif that is used in the film. Through out Ramsay uses lots of primary colours especially yelllow and red. These colours have different connotations and the yellow is used to represent Kevin as in lots of scenes he is either wearing yellow or there is a very prominent yellow object in the scene. It is later used to locks and these are a very key plot point. Yellow usually has connotations of happiness and is quite an optimistic colour which juxtapose with Kevin's behavior and attitude making him seem even more sly and scheming. 

Red however is as colour used a lot more noticeably in the film. It always seems like in every scene there is at least a small red object and it is always very noticeable and eye catching. It is a motif used from tghe beginning to the end of the film from when we see Eva at the tomato festival to objects and items that are all around there daily lives like a red ball or jam in a sandwich. This is used almost like breadcrumbs being dropped at the audience about what will happen in the story and how significant it is. Red has connotations of love but also violence and horror and both these themes are very much in the film. We can associate it with the love between Eva and husband Franklin as well as to her daughter Celia and the love she wants to feel to Kevin. The red is also very obvious for the violence and danger that Kevin will cause. The tomato throwing scene is also very effective as it represents what Kevin does but we never explicitly see Kevins actions, only the calm before the storm and the end result and this is in all the actions he does from the guinea pig to Celia's eye. Throughout the film the audience are encouraged to put the pieces together and make kevins actions seem a lot worse as the audicne can explicitly think about what happened in their minds. 

The performances in the film also are very good. The stand out is Tilda Swinton as Eva. At the beginning of the film you feel empathy for her as her child seems to be quite reckless and this only seems to happen to her and it is every parents fear that there child will not like them. We don't know where she went wrong and we feel the frustration she has but also feel empathy for there seeing what happened after the tragedy and the amount of abuse she gets but she doesn't seem too vulnerable in these situations. After the film however the audience may reconsider how they feel about her as while it is not entierly her fault about what happened she never stopped it or sought help and her non purposeful abuse may have been one of the causes.  Ezra Miller as grown up Kevin is also very convincing and they way he switches his character from kind to endearing is very good. The chemistry they have together is also very believable and while it is not positive we see they have a connection and they way they bounce of each other help make the film.

The film was only shot in 30 Days aswell and Ramsay has been working on it for four years before turning the chronological narrated film to a non chronolocal film from different perspectives.When the film was released it was highly praised by the critics with five star reviews in the Telegraph and Guardian saying things like 'This may be one of the most disquieting films ever made about a parent-and-child relationship and  It argues, amazingly, that the admirable mother isn't necessarily the one who makes everything right by acceding to her offspring's needs and wishes- Independant'  It was also nominated for BAFTAS best director, best actress and best british film and Ramsay won BFI award for director.  It was shot on a budget of $7 million and made $10.8 million.

Overall this is a very interesting film to watch about relationships and if people are shaped more by nature or nurture. It is all very visually pleasing to watch and has audiences fully involved and captivated by what is happening.