Lynne Ramsay continues her needed work of shining a spotlight on dark human traumas.
A tough movie to sit through, not because it’s boring or slow, but because the content is so unrelentingly dark - it’s an important film nonetheless. Adapted from the
novel by
Lionel Shriver,
We Need to Talk About Kevin dissects the bleak topics of resentful motherhood, the effects of such a relationship on a child’s development, and mass killing. With that information I’m sure you can piece the story together.
Childhood trauma and abuse, and their effects on the victim later in life, are common themes in the filmography of Scottish filmmaker
Lynne Ramsay, themes which she explores with painful candidness. She does not sugarcoat or romanticize the experiences of the individuals in her stories, but there’s never a lack of empathy either. These are characters who’ve been broken down, and who’ve been to the darkest parts of human existence, and while I definitely can’t say that these movies have “happy” endings, there’s always at least a glimmer of forgiveness, maybe even hope.
Narratively, Ramsay is one of the most impressive and unique filmmakers working today. She favors non-linear storytelling and expressionistic devices, emphasizing certain colors and exaggerating sound to relay the extremely subjective experiences of her characters. Similar to filmmaker
Paul Thomas Anderson, Ramsay has developed a strong working relationship with
Radiohead guitarist and composer
Johnny Greenwood over the past decade. In addition to her evocative imagery, this partnership with Greenwood (and her talented editors) has enabled Ramsay to communicate her narratives, and her character’s emotions, through her films’ distressing, yet remarkable sound design, rather than exposition and dialogue (which, by not putting extra words into her characters’ mouths, I think also helps to reduce/eliminate any feelings that Ramsay is exploiting these sensitive topics).
Her films are challenging, and her filmography sparse - with only four feature-length releases since her debut in 1999 - but every new work in Ramsay’s oeuvre proves why her artistry is essential. She illuminates the darker sides of humanity that we’d rather keep hidden, but you can’t empathize with what you can’t understand: it’s only through this illumination, and shared experience, that we can find a way out.
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