Skip to main content
review

Tilda Swinton and John C. Reilly in a scene from "We Need to Talk About Kevin"

Directed by Lynne Ramsay (U.K.)

Scottish director Lynne Ramsay (Ratcatcher) has adapted Lionel Shriver's bestseller as a stylish shocker – filled with great splashes of red – about a school shooting, but it's more horror movie than insightful psychological study. Told in a jigsaw puzzle of flashbacks, the story follows Eva (Tilda Swinton) as the traumatized mother of a psychopath, an emotionally ungiving Manhattan thoroughbred married to a regular guy (John C. Reilly). Eva's life may have an arc worthy of Greek tragedy, but the psychological credibility is undermined by the portrait of Kevin. Ezra Miller's sneering, absurdly precocious evil-child performance makes him just another bad-seed horror villain.

Sept. 9, 8 p.m., Winter Garden; Sept. 11, 9:15 a.m., Lightbox 2

Follow related authors and topics

Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following.

Interact with The Globe