The Indie Film Corner: ‘We Need To Talk About Kevin’

By Dennis Tavernetti
“We Need To Talk About Kevin”” from The Indie Series presented by Emerging Pictures in HD at USCB Center For the Arts on Monday, May 14 at 7 p.m.
Synopsis:   A suspenseful and gripping psychological thriller, “We Need to Talk About Kevin” explores the factious relationship between a mother, Eva, and her son, Kevin. Eva contends for 17 years with the increasing malevolence of her first-born child. The film explores nature vs. nurture on a whole new level, as Eva’s own culpability is measured against Kevin’s innate evilness. The audience is left to judge, who is at fault?
Previewer Comments: This is not a “feel good” film about the average American family in the 1950’s as portrayed on television shows of old. Instead, it is a masterful blend of drama and horror, with intense and fantastic performances across the board. Tilda Swinton, as the mother, Eva, delivers one of her very best ever, in a bracing, tour-de-force performance.  If this hadn’t been an Indie film she surely would have been nominated for an Oscar. This film evokes the question of the very cause of good versus evil. Whose fault is it that Kevin continues on a path of disturbance and harm from a young child to a teenager bent on hurting? The audience is sucked into the prevailing rational, that how Kevin turns out must be due to the parent(s) and the family environment the child experienced.  It raises the specter of angst uttered by most parents during hard child rearing times: “What did I do wrong?”  The answer may be, in spite of our imperfections, nothing.
Rated: Rated R for violence and language. Suitable for mature audiences.
Tickets for adults are $7, seniors $6, students $5. Call 843-521-4145 or purchase day of performance. Box office opens an hour before the show.