The cinematic adaptation of Lionel Shriver’s 2003 novel We Need to Talk About Kevin has been named Best Film at the London Film Festival Awards.
Reviewing the film for the New Statesman, Ryan Gilbey wrote:
Readers of Shriver’s novel were divided between those who saw the character as a monster and those who distrusted his mother’s control of the novel. It’s this tension the picture exploits, rather skilfully.
Starring Tilda Swinton, John C Reilly and Ezra Miller, the film recounts the events leading up to a high-school massacre and was directed by Glaswegian Lynne Ramsay. John Maddon, chair of the jury, described the film as “a sublime, uncompromising tale of the torment that can stand in the place of love”. It was singled out ahead of a strong shortlist which included Terrence Davis’s The Deep Blue Sea and Michel Hazanavicius’ The Artist.
Ramsay, whose previous films include Ratcatcher and Morvern Callar, is no stranger to awards having previously been the recipient of two Cannes Prix de Jury prizes. She was hailed by Tanya Seghatchian, head of the BFI Film Fund, as “one of the great cinematic visionaries”. We Need to Talk About Kevin is her third full-length feature.
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