What We Talk About When We Talk About 'We Need To Talk About Kevin.'

'We Need To Talk About Kevin' joins that elite group of films under the heading: 'Brilliant, But I Never Want To See It Again'

Some idiot at the BBC programmed this at 22:30 just before Mother's Day. I can't think of a more inappropriate choice.

It's a compelling drama, brilliantly acted and masterfully crafted. But, my God, it's hard to sit through, even though I would recommend everybody to do so.

It's one of the best non-horror movie horror movies out there. Imagine 'Michael Myers - The Early Years' directed by Dario Argento but without any shocks and scares. It exposes the everyday nightmares of the American suburbs, but with the cool unflinching eye of Kubrick rather than the amused surreal headgames of Lynch. The red motif is overplayed but undeniably powerful; the sound design unsettling and every scene hums with an uneasy foreshadowing of the terrible event or the wake of living with it afterwards

So, is Kevin the embodiment of evil, a devil child, a calculating monster from the moment he leaves the womb? Or is it Eva that's the monster? Has her bitterness and detachment nurtured a psychopath? There are no easy answers, there's no pat psychological profiling, no blame is assigned, no tidy catharsis. There is only the uncomfortable truth of what we are witnessing. Eva's hollow eyes and devastated life will haunt you. Kevin's knowing smile and polite maliciousness will haunt you. The connection that binds them as mother and son will haunt you. The inevitability of the event itself will haunt you.

It's an astonishing cinematic meditation on the most troubling of material. It's absolutely terrifying. I will watch it again. But I may need to give it at least a couple of years.