'We Need to Talk' one of Swinton's finest works

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Tilda Swinton had been considered a leading Oscar contender for her role as an anguished mother in Lynne Ramsay's “We Need to Talk About Kevin.” That didn't happen, but Swinton's performance is so effortlessly flawed, so microscopically insecure and unguardedly human that even an Oscar win couldn't match the level of her work here.

“We Need to Talk About Kevin” might be best described as a domestic art house horror movie. It's “The Bad Seed,” but from the viewpoint of the woman (Swinton's Eva) who gives birth to a child named Kevin who grows up with a humanity chip missing from his hard drive.

Perhaps to Ramsay's credit, the actors who play Kevin all project the same withdrawn, conniving intelligence: Rocky Duer (as toddler Kevin), Jasper Newell (6 to 8) and finally Ezra Miller (as a teenager).

At the start, we know something terrible has happened at the local high school. Employing a series of carefully constructed flashbacks, Ramsay brings us up to speed on Eva's terrible life tiptoeing around her volatile child and getting little support from her husband Franklin (Chicago's own John C. Reilly), who rationalizes everything that's not quite right. Everything.

“Kevin” really is a horror tale, but it's grounded in something scarier than fear of the unknown: fear of those whom we are programmed by nature to bestow unconditional love upon.

Viewers accustomed to conventional Hollywood thrillers may not appreciate or enjoy this movie's emphasis on feelings over actions, or how the ultimate climax plays out without exploitation of on-screen violence.

“Kevin,” Ramsay's first movie since the indie “Morvern Callar,” still packs a punch to our moral solar plexis, and its power lies not in the amoral actions of Miller's frightening Kevin, but in Swinton's superbly rendered portrait of a parent in peril.

“We Need to Talk About Kevin” opens at the River East Theater in Chicago. Rated R for language, sexual situations and violence. 112 minutes. ★ ★ ★ ½

‘Star Bores' in 3-D!

By now, “Star Wars” fans know that the 3-D converted version of the anemic prequel “Star Wars: Episode 1, The Phantom Menace” will open for a theatrical run on Feb. 10. (I know, I know. How can George Lucas make a 3-D movie out of all those one-dimensional characters?)

Here's news. The South Barrington 30 Theatres will be one of 10 AMC movie houses in America to offer regional exclusive events connected to the rerelease of “The Phantom Menace.”

Starting at 11 a.m. on Feb. 11, South Barrington will offer Darth Maul face-painting (doesn't every kid want to look like a highly embarrassed member of KISS?), a Lego area, a Fighter Pods toy (with ticket purchase), “exclusive” Anakin Skywalker Podracer 3-D glasses (with ticket purchase), photo ops and demonstrations of the upcoming Xbox Kinect “Star Wars” game.

No word on personal appearances by Jar-Jar Binks. Yet.

Go to amctheatres.com for details.

Review: Autistic slam?

Mr. Gire, I just read your review of the movie, “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.” Although I usually find your reviews insightful, I was disturbed by your cavalier comments about the autism community. I was offended by “a know-it-all who comes across like Sheldon's love child from the sitcom ‘The Big Bang Theory.'”

Offended seems harsh, but this line is what prompted me to write to you. I think what you are trying to describe is Asperger's syndrome. The character Sheldon does talk about his difficulties with social skills and understanding emotions on the show. Dean Richards from WGN saw that the boy was being depicted as “mildly autistic.”

If you know how an autistic mind thinks, then the scenes you described would make sense. Maybe if the writers explained Asperger's, it would be a better movie for you.

I am a mother of an autistic child. So, I am sensitive to this subject. But externalizing a pain to process it because an emotional pain is too abstract to understand, makes perfect sense to someone on the autism spectrum. I suggest that you read the book, “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time” by Mark Haddon. — Mimi Laneman

Dear Mimi: I agree with you that if the writers had explained Asperger's, “Extremely Loud” might have been a better movie. (If they had explained many more things, that might have made a better movie, too.)

Not only does “Extremely Loud” never mention autism, it backs away from the subject and distances itself from Asperger's. Take the scene where young Thomas Horn talks to Viola Davis.

“They tested me for Asperger's,” he says. “The results were inconclusive.” See? The writers didn't want Horn's character, Oskar, to be associated with any autistic conditions.

Because you have direct experience with autism, I am surprised that you do not feel more offended by “Extremely Loud” than by how I described the way the movie (badly) presents its main character.

Offending readers is never a goal for any responsible writer. I can only tell you I meant no ill will in my review. I think that describing how a .½ movie portrays a single character should not be interpreted as my assessment of the entire autism community.

Perhaps, Mimi, if you can describe how you thought “Extremely Loud” portrayed Oskar, we can open a dialogue about Hollywood's depiction of autism from which everyone can benefit. — Dann

• Daily Herald film critic Dann Gire's column runs Fridays in Time out!