Member review

I thought the film was going to be a comedy, however it was not. At the beginning the film was confusing because of the editing as it kept changing between the present and what I presumed to be past events. This was eventually clearly signified as the main protagonist, Eva, traveled backwards and forwards between having long hair and short hair. The plot was difficult to follow as it wasn’t a linear narrative however this slowly started to make sense as it was apparent that the story was set both in the past and the present time. Eventually the two halves of the story began to correlate effectively which made for an interesting way of storytelling. One scene that particularly stood out to me was the opening scene in which Eva was having tomatoes thrown out of her. In my interpretation the red in this scene is symbolic of the shame that Eva later feels throughout the film, therefore meaning this scene is prophetic and foreshadows the rest of the film. I found this scene disgusting however I believe that was the effect of this scene intended upon the audience. Another scene that I thought was effective and also grotesque was the scene in which the character of Kevin murdered his sister’s Guinea pig. I think this was horrific and added to the shock value that the film tried to achieve. The film left many enigmatic questions open at the end of the film and raised the Nature vs. Nurture that is prevalent in contemporary Psychology. Its left open as to whether Kevin’s sadistic and twisted behavior is due to his biological makeup or rather the cold and unloving way his mother raised him as it is made clear from the beginning that Eva and Kevin don’t have a conventional mother-son bond. I would recommend this film to anyone with an interest in Psychology as it seems to be highly influenced by this. The film would also appeal to people interested in psychological thrillers or twisted concepts. Overall, I think whilst the film is confusing and sometimes horrific, We Need to Talk about Kevin is highly effective in creating an unsettling and ambiguous atmosphere.