LFF 2011 Diary, Day 6: We Need To Talk About Kevin (Rating: ****)In attempting to tackle Lionel Shriver’s taboo busting novel, director Lynne Ramsay has neither yealded any of ambiguities and sub-texts of the source material, and in step has managed to fashion a uniquely powerful envisaging of a provocative and uncompromising tragedy.

When Eva (Tilda Swinton), a single, lonely and deeply haunted mother, recounts the horrific murders which her young son, Kevin (Ezra Miller),

was responsible for, through a haze of prescription drug hallucinations, nightmares, and flashbacks, she begins to search for clues to what made her to son take such violent action. Eventually, Eva begins to question whether she is in any way to blame for shaping her son’s violent tendencies and ultimately the crimes he commits. Never shy to open questions and debates about parental/offspring relationships, Ramsay’s latest film hits on the extremely sensitive topic of parents who don’t love their children. Or more precisely, is it wrong to not love a child when they don’t love you back? There are certainly many different interpretations to be made from Ramsay’s film beacuse there is little in the way of definitive answers, and Ramsay won’t be giving us any, any time soon.

Divided into sevaeral intercutting different sections through Kevin’s life: from birth, childhood and early teenage years, the narrative is directly from Eva’s memories and points of view. After birth she is initially reluctant to bond with Kevin, suffering perhaps from postnatal depression, or the change in responsibility in her life; a keen traveller, Eva is something of a free spirit. As the year’s pass Kevin never changes from being a reclusive, arrogant and sociopathic individual. Though his father (John C. Reilly) has a far more closer bond - often regarding him as a “special kid” - Eva is frequently embattled with Kevin, which at times has shocking consequences. The question always remains, was Eva at fault? Did she love him enough?

The technical and stylistic aesthetic of the film is awash with reds, either through heavy red filters, props, or carefully chosen objects, and at times drownis characters in a coat of blood-like hue. We Need To Talk About Kevin does for the debate over nature vs nurture what The Tree of Life failed to deliver. With scenes heavily inflicted from recent campus tragedies in Columbine and Virginia, the film delivers unreservadly on the tragedy of what is truely unsettling drama. JJ