‎We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) directed by Lynne Ramsay • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

We Need to Talk About Kevin

2011 Directed by Lynne Ramsay

The mother of a teenage sociopath who went on a high-school killing spree recalls her son's deranged behavior during childhood, as she deals with her grief.

John C. Reilly Tilda Swinton Ezra Miller Siobhan Fallon Jasper Newell Rock Duer Ashley Gerasimovich Alex Manette Kenneth Franklin Leslie Lyles

112 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Hollie Horror ★★★★½ 27

Tilda Swinton is the perfect actress in my eyes. You must be a chameleon adapting to whatever role is given to you. It is not just in her slightly androgynous appearance and demeanor but in her natural gift to act, she is perfect.

Like a wounded and terrified animal running on guilt and hindsight, Eva (Swinton) is barely living, flinching at the sound of her own name.

The United States has had its fair share of massacres at schools across the country. There have also been numerous films made, some based on reality, others in fantasy but the one thing they all have in common is the exploitative nature, focusing on the massacre itself. This is where We Need to…
Review by Bruno ★★★★ 14

Lynne Ramsay's We Need to Talk About Kevin is a compelling drama, being also a very unsettling experience throughout its whole running time. The story unfolds in flashbacks and you simultaneously see how the past events affect the life of Eva in the present day. I liked how the director goes back and forth in time as I find it a very effective way of making the viewer constantly intrigued and filled with suspense. Tilda Swinton gives a powerful performance, showing all the frustrations and detachment of the mother towards her son. Ezra Miller brilliantly incorporates true evil, always giving me the chills and making me uncomfortable. We Need to Talk About Kevin is one of the most disturbing films I've watched and I am definitely investigating more of Ramsay's work in the near future.
Review by DirkH ★★★★ 74

The main reason I put off watching this for so long is its source material. Lionel Shriver's novel is an amazing piece of fiction that gnaws on your soul by asking the toughest questions imaginable without granting its readers the comfort of easy answers. It explores the age old discussion on nature versus nurture. It does so by relating a story about a boy committing an evil deed, presented through a series of letters written by the boy‘s mother. She is constantly asking herself whether it is her fault that her son is the way he is or whether he was born evil. It also shows how something like a high-school shooting affects a community, but moreover the family members…
Review by Andre de Nervaux ★★★★

Tilda Swinton you should of knew something was wrong when he was fucking wanking openly in front of you.
Jheez
Review by Jeff ★★★ 8

Excellent film to watch with your wife and 10-day-old son on a sunny, Sunday afternoon.
Review by there is no howie only zuul ★★★★ 1

what i REALLY wanna talk about is how miss. lynne ramsay expects me to believe that john c reilly and tilda swinton made EZRA MILLER??? What.... what?? thats the real fuckin mystery yall lets talk about THAT

Recent reviews

Review by gusrodlopez ★★★★

Being a parent is hard, especially when your child is Beelzebub reincarnated
Review by Jarrod Demeza ★★★★

A slow burn but worth the pay off.
Review by byscts ★★★★

2017 REVIEW #143 | THE OPPOSITE OF FOOD PORN

A disturbing and grotesque portrayal of a family full of pain and regret and malice. Our protagonist, Eva, spends time throughout the movie removing vandalism from her home -- red paint, looking like blood -- as a means of metaphorically trying to scrub away the past. Forgiving and forgetting. It's hard to forgive something as horribly personal as the crimes she's witnessed.

Watching this as a means of inspiration for my upcoming theatre production of Needs, I took notes on the harsh lighting, the focus on disgusting things, and the emotional impact of a storyline told non-linearly. This film hurt me, but that doesn't mean for a second I did not enjoy it.
Review by furor ★★★½

disturbing much? also it felt super long
Review by Andre de Nervaux ★★★★

Tilda Swinton you should of knew something was wrong when he was fucking wanking openly in front of you.
Jheez
Review by Murphy Kenefick ★★★★

I have never wanted to brutally beat the shit out of a character this much before
Review by isabel ★★★★★

this film is so disturbing and tilda swinton broke my heart
Review by Arefeh ★★★½

Gruelling and at times difficult to endure. Lynne Ramsay tells a story between slight of hand and heavy, dark glances matched in the faces of mother and son. What is striking is the level of detail; jelly sandwiches and crawling ants; fingernails on the table; minuscule sounds echoing and lodging themselves in the audience's psyche. Through relative stretches of silences, deliberate use of colour and framing, Ramsay managed to flit back in time, following the thread of the protagonist's thoughts in a disorderly, ephemeral way that we all experience memories and more importantly traumas. The dialogue is sparse, but much like a needle-drop in a vast and cavernous space, the impact is amplified for it and leaves a lasting impression.
Review by Nick Brimer ★★★★

We Need To Talk About Kevin was a fantastic psychological movie that easily attracts the audiences attention and pushes their comfort level. First of all, hats off to Ezra Miller who was disturbing as Kevin and Tilda Swinton who did a fantastic job as Kevin's mother. The only real flaw I have with this film is the pacing with some of the scenes in this film but overall I was hooked with this movie and my jaw literally dropped at some points. Don't really know if I could watch this again because of how disturbing it was so I guess that's a positive for the film?