We Need To Talk About Kevin and The Help

After recently seeing "One Day", two more films adapted from books that I have enjoyed. "We Need To Talk About Kevin" is based on the book by Lionel Shriver where Kevin's mother Eva writes letters to her "estranged" husband Franklin. Were they always written so that Eva could get them published one day I now ask myself? The film takes a more narrative construction but still uses Eva as the centre of the story. It is directed by Lynne Ramsay, her first for nearly ten years. It is a bold and brilliant interpretation of what is a harrowing tale. The editing of real time and flashbacks (especially at the start) is sometimes too quick, but it gives the film the sense of disturbance it needs. Awful things happen, but the director never makes them unbearable. The visual flair of the movie is extraordinary. You do not fail to miss the most ordinary objects that are coloured red. The performances are wonderful and so is the casting. You just knew that Tilda Swinton would be so right as Eva, and she was. The music is haunting. Lynne Ramsay has somehow tapped her Scottish routes by including three early recordings of American folk songs by her countryman Lonnie Donegan. I could not believe it when the first came on. The original score is by Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood. This was a very well made film in all respects. And the end is still as devastating as it was in the book.

We had read "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett for Book Club last year, and I really enjoyed it.  The movie very faithfully followed the book's narrative and it was pleasure to be reminded how it was such a great story. The photography of the deep south is absolutely gorgeous, the costumes, lighting and sets should all get Oscar nominations. The ensemble acting is first class. Emma Stone comes of age in the lead role of sparky Skeeter Phelan, but it is Viola Davis as the maid Aibileen who steals the show. Another Oscar nomination a certainty. Yes, it does get a bit sentimental at times, and it is a bit long, but it never felt less than engrossing, and the crucial incident that colours the last half hour seems even better on film than it did in the book.