Review of You Were Never Really Here (2017) by Paul T — 22 Mar 2018

Interesting movie. A hallucinating abuse/trauma victim tries to straighten out his world, mostly through brutal violence against the trash who symbolise his torment. But his violence is metronomic and unreal, his only moments truly 'here' being with his fellow refugee from abuse, his mother.

When he loses her to a new, more formidable evil, his lifeline is gone, and so he plans to accompany her to a watery grave. But at the last moment a transformative vision brings him back to his senses: There is someone else who shares their trauma.

The child that he then goes on to rescue is the one who will save him from his past. "It's OK Joe", she says in an inexplicable tangent to the horror they have been through. And later, after he finally drops through the emptiness of his existence, "Come on.

It's a beautiful day.".