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

6/10
I read a review or saw some hype piece about this movie that posed an interesting question as a result of viewing the film itself - what do you do, as a mother, if you've given birth to or are raising a child that you don't like? I wish this movie was made more about that question. I watched this and can't help but wonder at the end of it what the point of it all was, if not to depress the viewer. Kevin as a character is a complete blank slate - his lone characteristic is that he hates his mother (Tilda Swinton, great as ever) and has hated her from birth. We never see him interacting with anyone outside the family, so it's hard to get any real sense of him. Although that's obviously the point - giving him friends, outside influences, even showing what the hell he does during the day, would ostensibly lead us down the path of easy answers. Fine, but it doesn't make for a fair or even remotely realistic portrait. The whole movie in fact seems out of step with reality. When the mother of one of Kevin's victims punches Swinton in the face on the street, it almost seems comical - what mother would act that way? Why has no one else aside from Swinton seen in 16 years what an absolute asshole Kevin is? Why do incidences caused by Kevin that lead to the death of a household pet or the blinding of his sister seem brushed under the rug? Lynne Ramsay directs with immense visual flair and there's a great movie somewhere in here, but this one has too many problems to fully cohere for me.