MOVING CINEMA
YOUNG PROGRAMMERS PRESENT WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN
FILMHOUSE, EDINBURGH
Saturday 1 February
We Need to Talk About Kevin, chosen by our Young Programmers and introduced by Thomas and Lucilla.
Our Moving Cinema screenings for 2020 kicked off Saturday 1 February with we Need to talk About Kevin by Lynn Ramsay. For the last few months our Young Programmers have been watching European films in order to select and programme the best and most relevant films to screen at Filmhouse.
We may be out of the European Union, but European cinema will always have a place in our hearts and on or screens here at Filmhouse. We Need to Talk About Kevin is not necessarily what people have in mind when thinking about European cinema as it is telling a story set in America, but it was important to us to programme a film that celebrates our local talents: Lynn Ramsay and Tilda Swinton.
Here is what they have to say about the film …
We Need to Talk About Kevin is directed by Scottish film-maker Lynn Ramsey It is her first feature after Ratcatcher and Morvern Callar. The film Is a provocative and evocative adaptation of the best-selling and unsettling novel by Lionel Shriver – who was not a fan of the film but we absolutely loved it. Shot in only 30 days it features celebrated performances by tolda Swinton as the mother, Eva and Ezra Miller as her teenage son, Kevin.
We did not want to only programme films directed and written by men, and we also wanted to screen a film by a Scottish director therefore showing a Lynn Ramsay film became evident to us!
We chose We Need to Talk About Kevin instead of her other work for many reasons: firstly, it cleverly uses a non-linear structure that jumps about in time creating a vivid impression of the main character’s complex psychology. The film is also very special in the way Ramsay explores darker sides of family life and motherhood in way rarely seen on screen.
The casting and performances are exceptional, especially form the three young actors who play Kevin at different ages as they each embody different aspects of this very complex character. And of course, this film was a star making performance for Ezra Miller!
We were also really struck by the visual storytelling on display – the colour red is almost a character in the film and Ramsay uses the grammar of horror films to give a powerful effect. This led us to spend over half an hour discussion the significance of tomatoes!
Finally, we chose to programme this film because it is the complete opposite from the other film we chose, Amelie which screened the following day. This way we gave our audience the opportunity to see a wide range of stories and performances on the big screen!