You Were Never Really Here (2017)

Director: Lynne Ramsay
Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Judith Roberts, Ekaterina Samsonov
Runtime: 90 minutes

Performances: 8/10
Screenplay: 7/10
Special Effects: N.A.
Costumes/Makeup: 7/10
Editing: 6/10
Cinematography: 6/10
Score/Soundtrack: 7/10 

Verdict: "You Were Never Really  Here" follows Joe, a hired gun traumatized by a violent past on a blood-filled mission to retrieve a 13-year-old girl that went missing. 

Ever since the film won the awards for Best Screenplay and Best Actor at Cannes, I have been eagerly waiting for a chance to watch it. I don't know if I enjoyed it as much as I wanted to, but it certainly stuck in my head for a couple of days. The subject dealt with throughout the movie is a disturbing one, and returning director Lynne Ramsay (whose last film was the excellent "We Need to Talk About Kevin", back in 2011) does a great job translating that sense of disturbance to the audience through a quite unique soundtrack and weird editing work. However, I do feel that she overdid it a few times, which as a result made the film occasionally look like a student project. Joaquin Phoenix as the barbaric Joe was, on the other hand, spectacular from beginning to end, and truly a joy to watch. He played the broken man still haunted by his past with such intensity and emotion that he actually disappeared and became the character.

"You Were Never Really Here" is a shocking, violent, depressing picture that reminded me a lot of some of Nicolas Winding Refn's movies. It definitely had its drawbacks but is ultimately a fascinating watch, mainly elevated by a very much in form Joaquin Phoenix. 

Final Grade: 7/10