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We Need to Talk About Kevin

We Need to Talk About Kevin

Drama · Thriller · 2011

After her son Kevin commits a horrific act, troubled mother Eva reflects on her complicated relationship with her disturbed son as he grew from a toddler into a teenager.

Movie details

We Need to Talk About Kevin

“This conversation is long overdue.”

2011 Drama · Thriller 1h 53m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

7.5 / 10

Community rating

After her son Kevin commits a horrific act, troubled mother Eva reflects on her complicated relationship with her disturbed son as he grew from a toddler into a teenager.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over We Need to Talk About Kevin?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Cape Fear

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Sam Bowden witnesses a rape committed by Max Cady and testifies against him. When released after 8 years in prison, Cady begins stalking Bowden and his family but is always clever enough not to violate the law.

Thoroughbreds

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Lily and Amanda, two high school students living in suburban Connecticut, rekindle their unlikely friendship after years of drifting apart. Together, they devise a plan to kill Lily's abusive stepfather by hiring a lowlife drug dealer.

Nocturnal Animals

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Susan Morrow receives a book manuscript from her ex-husband – a man she left 20 years earlier – asking for her opinion of his writing. As she reads, she is drawn into the fictional life of Tony Hastings, a mathematics professor whose family vacation turns violent.

Cape Fear

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Sam Bowden is a small-town corporate attorney. Max Cady is a tattooed, cigar-smoking, Bible-quoting, psychotic rapist. What do they have in common? 14 years ago, Sam was a public defender assigned to Max Cady's rape trial, and he made a serious error: he hid a document from his illiterate client that could have gotten him acquitted. Now, the cagey Cady has been released, and he intends to teach Sam Bowden and his family a thing or two about loss.

Natural Born Killers

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Two victims of traumatized childhoods become lovers and serial murderers irresponsibly glorified by the mass media.

Lila & Eve

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Lynne Ramsay

Written by

Rory Stewart Kinnear · Lynne Ramsay

Tilda Swinton

Tilda Swinton

Eva Khatchadourian

John C. Reilly

John C. Reilly

Franklin

Ezra Miller

Ezra Miller

Kevin, Teenager

Siobhan Fallon Hogan

Siobhan Fallon Hogan

Wanda

Alex Manette

Alex Manette

Colin

Jasper Newell

Jasper Newell

Kevin, 6-8 Years

Ashley Gerasimovich

Ashley Gerasimovich

Celia

Court is in session

Put We Need to Talk About Kevin on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Form is the argument.”

Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Technique in search of a pulse.”

Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.