If you care about what I have to say at all, you may not want to watch the trailer for We Need to Talk about Kevin, especially if you already don’t know much about this film. It’s a movie I walked into when I saw it at Cannes knowing absolutely nothing and walked out quite impressed. In fact, one of the main reasons I enjoyed it so much is represented in the screen capture from the trailer above as director Lynne Ramsay’s use of color throughout the film creates a haunting atmosphere.
As I’ve done in the past when talking about this film since seeing it, here are the two opening paragraphs from my Cannes review:
We Need to Talk about Kevin opens with a ghostly backdoor drape wafting in the night breeze. The sound of a sprinkler echoes throughout the theater as we’re drawn deeper into a bright ethereal light. White is soon replaced with red as we’re whisked to the La Tomatina festival in Valencia, Spain. It’s our first glimpse of Eva (Tilda Swinton) as she’s carried on her back over the masses before she’s lowered to the ground and showered with tomato pulp. Drenched in red. Alive. Laughing. Happy.
The scene flashes once again. We’re placed in an unknown future. Eva’s hair is longer. She’s no longer smiling and her house and car have just been splattered with red paint. The metaphorical gore drips from her awning, kicking off one of the most elegant horror films I’ve ever seen. We Need to Talk about Kevin is creepy, sophisticated and rippling with tension.
Really, you don’t need to know anymore than that. In fact, you didn’t even need to know that. This is a film you simply just need to see. However, if you can’t take my word for it you can watch the trailer below.
