Children who are evil spawn have long been a mainstay of motion pictures. More often than not, these films play a hide-and-seek game with what the reasoning is for the little imp's misbehavior. Horror movies, certainly, like to keep things secret until the end.
What's especially unique about the newest devil-child, Kevin Khatchadourian, in the gripping new psychological thriller, "We Need To Talk About Kevin," is that we have a pretty good idea why Kevin is such a vile off-spring from the beginning. His mother never really wanted him in the first place. She pretends that she's trying to love him and cope with his evil deeds, but the truth is that she wishes he had never been born.
Kevin is not only a monstrous little tyke (and a very sinister teenager), but he's also very smart. The boy knows exactly why he was a terror of a tyke on two legs at home and then a horror for all to see and experience when older. He knows his mother wishes he had never been born. He realizes there's not a shred of maternal joy in her bones.
The movie is extraordinary on a number of levels, not the least of which is the fact that it manages to build its suspense in spite of its jumping back and forth in time. It creates an aura of fear even within its many flashbacks and flash-forwards. By the time the audience realizes where the pieces of the puzzle fit together, it is completely engrossed. The hair-raising massacre that stuns the town is only part of the story.
Lynne Ramsey directs with a sure eye for where to keep the attention focused within the frame. Her multi-layered screenplay, written with Rory Kinnear and based on the novel by Lionel Shriver, uses words not only as exposition, but also as weapons.
The entire cast is outstanding, including Ezra Miller as the teenage Kevin and John C. Reilly as his father, a man who tries to put a happy face on a little too much. But the real star of the show is Tilda Swinton as Eva, Kevin's mother, whose all-encompassing hatred for her child may equal her son's venom and mean-spirited soul. Her character's first name is an obvious reference to the "beginning of all motherhood," and Swinton milks this for all it's worth.
Swinton's performance is astounding. There was much discussion swirling around this year's Oscars as to why Swinton didn't receive a best actress nomination. I'll add to it. Of course, there were a number of very good performances from actresses eligible for the big prize, but Swinton's omission is one that deserves examination. Did Academy voters recoil at the genuinely nasty elements that make Eva such a fascinating person?
At times, "We Need To Talk About Kevin" isÊa mesmerizing film. There are seriously tormented people on view. It's often said that American families hide so much of their personal unpleasantness from the outside world. Here's a movie that dares to rip open the curtains and shine a light on what might be a dirty little secret to some, but something obvious to others: There are definitely adults who shouldn't have children.
You'll leave the film asking what's to blame for the psychological evil that roars out of Kevin and for the relentless anger that wracks his mother. Are these two mismatched people responsible for their actions or is there something more frightening at work?
One movie that did receive attention from the Academy Awards folks is "In Darkness," which was nominated for best foreign language film. It lost to the exceptional "A Separation." But "In Darkness" is also a picture that should be seen.
The feature is directed by the celebrated Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland ("Europa Europa," "The Secret Garden," "Total Eclipse"). Holland has also contributed her talent to some popular American television programs, having directed episodes of "The Wire," "Treme," and "Cold Case."
"In Darkness" is a true story based on the book "In the Sewers of Lvov" by Robert Marshall. The screenplay is by David F. Shamoon.
The movie presumes that audiences are fully aware of the events of the Holocaust during World War II. Neither Holland nor her screenwriter are intent on preaching or delivering a history lesson. If their goal was to offer an intensely moving study of people caught up in unprecedented circumstances, they succeeded.
In the Polish city of Lvov, the Nazis are rounding up its Jewish citizens. No Jew is safe. Neither rich nor poor, young nor old.
Holland is telling us that people had pleasant, comfortable lives until unimaginable horrors were delivered upon them. Think about it, if you will, asks Holland. One day the kids go to school, dad goes to work, and mom prepares a supper. The sun is shining. Music wafts from somewhere. Then thugs from an invading army tell you that your life as you knew it is over. Not for something you did, but because you were the wrong religion, ethnicity, or even sexual orientation. Get into the truck and face certain death. Or run and hide.
The movie details how a number of families, especially those with children, were able to escape into the sewers of their city. They faced a life of underground hell. The smell alone was daunting, the darkness a metaphor for the torture they faced and the forces of evil arrayed against them.
There was a Polish man, a sewer inspector, who, in order to survive in war-torn Poland, was also a petty thief. Leopold decided that charging Jews a fee to stay in the sewers was more profitable than being a burglar. The film then details the lives of the Jews as they deal with the mendacious Leopold, stay one step ahead of the Nazis, and struggle to maintain their families under unspeakable conditions.
"In Darkness" is also a look at how complex things were in places like Lvov. That city is now called Lviv, and it's in the Ukraine. During WWII, the city was a multi-ethnic mix of people and customs. The Nazis saw an enemy population as a unit, but the residents had their own ideologies and class distinctions.
Holland and screenwriter Shamoon expertly give us a sense of life-on-the-brink in a town shattered not only by an occupier, but also by a fear of the unknown.
The extended families who flee to the sewers are flesh-and-blood entities. They love and they squabble, even under harsh and always dangerous conditions.
What's also very interesting about "In Darkness" is that in concentrating on the families, it manages to generate a touching warmth, something you don't usually associate with the Holocaust. By focusing on the mothers and fathers and children, director Holland offers a ray of hope amid the cruelty. She understands that not even the most palpable evil can undermine the human spirit. Holland has made a strongly emotional movie that cries out to be seen.
You may be unaware of this, but there's a controversy involving the rating for an upcoming film called "Bully." Because of the use in it of that old nemesis, the F-word (spoken more than the allowed number of times), the MPAA ratings board has given the picture a provisional R, which means that children under 17 may not see the movie without an accompanying parent or adult guardian. "Bully" is about teenagers and is a work teenagers should see.
Harvey Weinstein, boss of The Weinstein Company, the distributor of the film, has challenged the rating. He wants a PG-13.
Here's something I've often wondered. Everyone knows that PG-13 movies have a better chance at box office success. The R-rating does limit ticket sales in theaters, and this may surprise some of you, but there are parents who really do pay attention to a film's rating. Most of the time, I'm unaware of what the rating is unless I make a point ofÊ finding it out. I don't care about ratings.
Although the MPAA allegedly has a system for choosing the "average men and women" who watch movies in advance and vote on the ratings for them, I've always wondered about some things. Has the MPAA ever vetted the history of these people who rate films, all of them unknown except to a select few? Are there any prejudices in their past about certain themes, directors, stars, producers and companies? Do they bring their biases into the screening room? And equally important, do these faceless folks own stock in any company whose motion picture they are judging? If they do own stock, which they shouldn't, has an MPAA rater ever given a safer rating to a film made and/or distributed by a company from which they stand to profit?
Regarding the R-rating for "Bully," the MPAA is practicing abject stupidity, and a little bit of cowardice. Stupidity because it believes that no teenager has ever heard, or said, that F-word. And cowardice because it's afraid that if the movie is given a PG-13 rating and little Billy or Becky goes and hears the F-word, some bozo may complain about it.Ê
I write this because of the new movie "The Hunger Games," which is based on the latest best-selling fiction series to sweep the world. This one especially thrills teenage girls. The movie is set in the future in a post-apocalyptic America, now called Panem, which is divided into twelve very big zones. Teenagers are chosen from each zone to participate in a deadly tournament in which they must kill each other. Guess what the rating is? F-word bad. Teens slaughtering teens good. The MPAA gave "The Hunger Games" a PG-13.
Regarding the film itself, it's long and feels it, two hours and 22 tedious minutes long, and it doesn't really kick into high gear until the beginning of the second hour. Although, truth be told, that high-gear is actually more like bedlam than clever or engrossing action.
Much of the first part of the movie is meandering set-up, with languorous camera tracking and odd-ball musical choices.
We follow Katniss Everdeen, who volunteers to take her younger sister's place for the latest death match in the Capitol. Rulers of Panem, ensconced in the gaudy and bizarre Capitol, more Las Vegas than anything else, have selected a boy and girl from the 12 districts to slaughter each other on live television. Katniss wins the argument about going to do battle, and she will meet up with a raft of wacky characters that wouldn't be out of place in Oz. In fact, there's a make-over sequence that will remind you of Dorothy getting her hair and make-up done in "The Wizard Of Oz."
Some of the characters include trainers and reporters and obsessed fans, and even the president of Panem gets into the act. He's played with scenery-chewing relish by Donald Sutherland.
There's a small, almost dwarfish, teenage boy named Peeta who thinks Katniss is the cat's meow. He falls in love with her. He wouldn't be out-of-place in Hobbitland. The actor is Josh Hutcherson, and watching him is like watching vapor trails dissipate. Seriously, where do they find these kids?
Also in the feature are Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Stanley Tucci, Toby Jones, Lenny Kravitz and Wes Bentley. Notice the dearth of recognizable women in the cast. Jennifer Lawrence is Katniss. Lawrence was superb in "Winter's Bone," in which she played a young girl fighting to find out information about her dangerous family. However, Lawrence now looks too old to play a girl in her mid-teens. It's not her fault. There's an early maturity about her that is at cross-purposes with who Katniss is supposed to be. Gary Ross, who has directed sweet concoctions such as "Pleasantville," is out of his element here. He doesn't direct action very well, and the scenes in which the teen combatants train are cluttered and fussy.
Supposedly, the original book is about female empowerment. I'm not reviewing the first novel in the three-part series, I'm reviewing the movie, and this effort is not about female empowerment. Oh sure, it gives a superficial gloss to the notion that women can be strong, but the film is really about teenagers killing other teenagers. If there is any power and depth in the original source material, Ross and his screenwriters -- which includes himself, the novel's author Suzanne Collins, and Billy Ray -- have stripped it away for the movies.
As fantasy, "The Hunger Games" is extremely derivative. Too much is familiar. It cost $100 million to make and has little in it that's truly original. In fact, it's a little too close for comfort to a Japanese movie called "Battle Royale."
Ultimately, "The Hunger Games" has little emotional heft. It's "Gladiator" for the junior high school set. But not as interesting. Do yourself a favor -- if you want to see a young girl stand up for herself and battle her enemies, watch "Hanna."
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | March 27 2012 |