The end of 2011 belonged to serious, confrontational cinema. Lynne Ramsay’s We Need to Talk about Kevin and Steve McQueen’s Shame (read my review of Shame here: http://ed-is-a-stranger-on-earth.blogspot.nl/2012/02/true-fiction-steve-mcqueens-shame.html ) shocked art-house audiences everywhere by revealing to them the most candid portraits of contemporary society. It is telling that both films were ignored by the fuddy-duddy fogies at the Academy Awards. This embarrassing blunder should say more about the Academy than the two films, which are made of much weightier (and therefore more relevant) stuff than any of the 2012 Oscar-winners. Ramsay’s We Need to Talk about Kevin is relentless in the way it broaches its subjects. Are all mothers naturally maternal? it asks us to consider from the get-go. We see Eva (a stellar Tilda Swinton) struggle with motherhood, trying to come to grips with a new addition to her carefree life with her husband. The fact tha...