The cast and crew of We Need to Talk About Kevin at the Winter Garden Theatre. (Allison Adams)
By Chantelle Joy Duxbury
Tilda Swinton has been instrumental in bringing Lionel Shriver's acclaimed 2003 novel We Need to Talk About Kevin from the page to the screen. First, she deftly plays the role of Eva, the mother of the murderous and disturbed teenage boy in the film's title. Second, as executive producer, she is using her own unique star power to promote the movie and champion its director, Lynne Ramsay, at both Cannes and TIFF.
Pulling double duty at this year's festival, Swinton will also be involved in an in-depth conversation session this coming Sunday (Sept. 11) at the Lightbox, where she'll discuss her varied career and offer personal commentary on her work as a part of TIFF's Mavericks series.
The most recent addition to Swinton's eclectic filmography is We Need to Talk About Kevin. It had its North American premiere at the Winter Garden Theatre Friday, and I was lucky enough to attend the hot-ticket screening.
Before the film started, director Lynne Ramsay greeted the audience and said in no uncertain terms to "buckle up" - a phrase usually uttered before action movies, but equally sound advice before viewing this emotionally challenging film.
Swinton's character, Eva, provides the movie's emotional core, as We Need to Talk About Kevin is told strictly from her perspective and offers her thoughts on motherhood. Giving birth to and raising a son who is seemingly evil and outrageously defiant (amazing portrayed first by Jasper Newell, and later Ezra Miller), she struggles in the aftermath of a killing spree that her son has orchestrated at his school.
Everything from the cinematography, sounds, score and music in this film is tense and foreboding, and you're never quite sure what's coming next. You spend the entire journey overwhelmed by pity and grief for Eva and, in some small way, for Kevin, too.
During the Q&A afterwards, Lynne Ramsay noted that she wasn't trying to make a social commentary - she noted school shooting movies have been done before - but she was simply trying to make a great cinematic experience. The funny thing about great cinematic experiences is that they often provoke heated discussion, which in turn creates a sense of social commentary. The best filmmakers can do both, and Ramsay succeeds in this.
The old adage "show, don't tell" sums up Ramsay's spare directorial style. Like one of my favorite TIFF Films of 2010, Womb, the expression here comes through in the acting, making Swinton's performance all the more profound.
Some of the best films I have ever seen do not rely heavily on conversation or dialogue. I think Swinton might agree, as she said at the screening Friday she prefers silent films, and added, "I genuinely think that movies were so much better before people started talking in them".
