REVIEW: You Were Never Really Here

 ★★★★

Lynne Ramsay's You Were Never Really Here is visceral and biting - each shot completely steals your breath away. This is a film where the story is told through the cinematography. Little dialogue is needed to push the story forward, and while at times it can be rather ambiguous, the payoff is a striking and compelling film about trauma and abuse. 

The first followup to Ramsay's acclaimed We Need to Talk About Kevin, the film follows Joe (Joaquin Phoenix), a private investigator haunted by his own past who lives in his childhood home to take care of his elderly mother. Joe is hired to rescue a politician's young daughter from a sex trafficking ring, but it isn't long before shocking developments occur and the situation escalates beyond his expectations. 

The direction of this film shows a true auteur in Lynne Ramsay, every inch of each shot clearly planned out with an intended purpose. The plot and characters are carried more through the camerawork than the dialogue itself, and this is largely made possible by Thomas Townend's beautiful and poignant cinematography. A great support to this was Jonny Greenwood's razor-sharp score that gave weight and emotion to every scene, and it was easily one of my favourite aspects of the film. 

Joaquin Phoenix's work as an actor was also quite brilliant, and while I have seen it iterated many times already (particularly in relation to this film), I will say it again - he is likely one of the greatest actors working today. It is due time for him to win an Academy Award (he has been nominated 3 times and has yet to win). 

My only major complaint about the film is that I found myself wishing I had more context about the characters so I could become more attached - in particular, I wish that Joe's flashbacks had been a bit more fleshed out by the end and were left a little less ambiguous. His past is still a bit unclear by the end, and it was likely intended to remain that way - but I found that I yearned for a bit more. 

The final act was the film's strongest portion, spearheaded by the powerful scene at the lake and the events that subsequently follow flow into one another like melted gold. Ramsay has sculpted cinema into a piece of art with You Were Never Really Here, and it is truly a feast for the eyes and the mind.