You Were Never Really Here - Review Thread

Lynne Ramsey might not be a household name, but in the film world (especially in her native UK) she's been highly touted since her short film days for presenting realistic, uncompromising looks at life, debuting in 1999 with her bleak looks at Glasgow youths in Ratcatcher. Ramsey has gone on to make bigger films since then and has acquired bigger name talents for her films, like Tilda Swinton in her last effort We Need to Talk About Kevin. Now she's teamed with the venerable Joaquin Phoenix for You Were Never Really Here, a film set in New York but one that every bit maintains her gritty realism and focus on downtrodden and mentally strained characters. It's almost curious that Ramsay isn't more prolific than she is, especially in regards to the current climate in the industry and the fact she's been a highly acclaimed director making features for twenty years now and award winning short films even longer. But her films are also not for the faint of heart or those who would rather not know about social issues plaguing the working class, though that type of care for her generally marginalized subjects and emphasis on telling honest stories about them has made me a huge fan of her work. She's a brilliant filmmaker who truly is a unique talent all her own, and You Were Never Really Here continues to cement that statement.

The film centers around Joe (Joaquin Phoenix), a veteran suffering from severe PTSD both from his experiences on the battlefield and the immense trauma he suffered as a child from his abusive father. We catch these moments in quickly inserted flashback segments, and they go as fast as they arrive as Joe struggles to drown these painful memories out. It's never explained how Joe gets into this line of work or why, but back in New York he now works as a ruthless vigilante who specializes in tracking down missing girls that are being sex trafficked. Joe is very meticulous in how he handles his business, even chewing out a client for having his son see him as he comes to the bodega to collect his money. It's never clear if this line of work acts as a sort of redemption or therapy for Joe to right his own wrongs or just the wrongs of this brutal and vicious world, but it's clear that no matter what he does he's unable to alleviate himself of the burdens he's accumulated. Joe takes care of his elderly mother (Judith Roberts) and lives a quiet and unassuming life when he's not rescuing underage girls, and his interactions with his mother are hilarious, sweet, and one of the few moments we see Joe get to exhale and be happy. The bulk of the story comes into play when Joe is approached by Senator Albert Votto (Alex Manette), who tells him his daughter has been kidnapped and he knows where they're keeping her. What follows is Joe becoming entwined in a much larger conspiracy than he signed up for, though the film never loses itself to becoming a paranoid thriller in the vein of the New York-set films that dominated the 1970s. It's easy to compare this film to Taxi Driver or even contemporary counterparts like Drive, but You Were Never Really Here is very much its own film and refuses to take the narrative bait and become something bigger than it's setting out to be. In fact, aside from Phoenix's incredible performance or the beautiful compositions on display, perhaps the greatest strength of You Were Never Really Here stems from Ramsay shying away from latching onto the many tropes that there potentially are in the film and instead forging a narrative that doesn't give in. Joe does form a bond with Votto's daughter, Nina (Ekaterina Samsonov), but their interactions are often filled with silent understandings of one another and neither divulges much. Joe is a hitman of sorts, but we're not treated to wild shootout sequences or extensive covert work, with Ramsay opting for Joe's fearlessness to show through him simply walking into these places armed with only a hammer and routinely carrying out his job. The PTSD that Joe suffers from is clearly debilitating, but it doesn't define who he is. On the surface it does appear that You Were Never Really Here is a gritty film touching on many of the themes we've seen before, but in the deft hands of Lynne Ramsay it feels anything but familiar.

A final element about the film I wanted to discuss is the highly audible sound design throughout. At times the noise is deafeningly loud, all done on purpose of course. The painful screeching of the subway trains, the barrage of cars and horns, the people of New York yelling over one another, all of it is raised to uncomfortable levels in order to heighten Joe's PTSD. It can be extremely jarring at times, especially cutting between these moments and sequences of mostly silence, but it's also incredibly effective in getting us inside Joe's head and constant assault on his mental being. It also helps to accomplish a very difficult thing in movies like this; Joe is a ruthless man that we deeply emphasize with. There are no grandiose monologues delivered by Phoenix about the need for morality, nor are there even moments of real redemption for Joe who despite what he does only seems to grow more plagued by his past. He's a broken man who's been damaged by the situations he's been placed into, and so even as he's committing extreme acts of violence (granted it is towards people sex trafficking minors) we're constantly rooting for him. But just when you feel that a scene in the narrative has presented itself as a moment for Joe to find solace within himself or people in his life to positively latch onto, Ramsay refuses to compromise and dismiss severe PTSD, built up over decades, as being so easily thwarted. Like her other films, You Were Never Really Here is not going to be for everyone, especially those looking for convention and compromise. At just around 90 minutes, this is a brisk film and one that truly pulls no punches. But for those who scoff at the numerous tropes I mentioned that Ramsay skillfully avoids at every opportunity, You Were Never Really Here is a daring film that only Ramsay has the skill and unflinching integrity to craft, and it represents another impressive addition to her vastly under appreciated resume.

8/10

I woke up and saw this thread was closed for some reason. Not sure why but I reopened it.

I felt like this was a poor man's Blue Ruin/Brawl in Cell Block 99/Man on Fire.

It wasn't bad, but it felt like the kind of movie Bruce Willis is doing these days compared to the aforementioned titles.

With the direction and acting, I'd be willing to give it 7/10, the story just seemed too ... small.

Meh for me too. It wasn't bad, it was entertaining, the music was done really well, most of the sound was top notch. Just needed like another 30 minutes to really flesh out some characters to make me care more. Give me more story less winks and nods for people who read the book.

Still pretty solid overall tho.

7/10