Review of You Were Never Really Here (2017) by Dave M — 06 May 2018

"You Were Never Really Here" (R, 1:29) is a drama-mystery-thriller which arrived in U.S. theaters in April 2018, following a series of European releases in late 2017 and a prestigious festival run in places like Cannes and Sundance. It's directed by Lynne Ramsay ("We Need to Talk About Kevin"), who also wrote the screenplay, adapting Jonathan Ames' 2013 novella of the same name. (Ramsay won the Best Screenplay award at the Cannes Film Festival.) The movie stars multiple Oscar nominee (and Golden Globe winner) Joaquin Phoenix whose work won him Best Actor at Cannes. Prestigious... but is it good?

Joe (Phoenix) is a man with skills - and demons. He's a former FBI Agent and combat veteran with PTSD. He funnels his anger and uses his experiences in his self-appointed role as a savior of missing girls. But he doesn't just save the girls, he takes revenge on their captors. He's Batman, Dexter and Rambo all rolled into one. (The movie also feels like a combination of the "Death Wish" and "John Wick" movies.) When Joe is hired by a New York State Senator to track down his missing daughter, Nina (Ekaterina Samsonov), Joe finds himself fighting all the sex traffickers and corrupt politicians he can handle.

"You Were Never Really Here" is compelling, but too weird to enjoy. Joe seems just short of being a superhero, but not an appealing one. His cause may be just, but his excessive use of violence makes it hard to empathize with him. The choppy edits are also distracting. The film compares well with the aforementioned characters and franchises, but can't manage to be entertaining on any level. The comparisons with Robert De Niro's "Taxi Driver", are more fitting regarding subject matter and characterization than quality. Phoenix turns in another singular, raw, compelling performance, but he can't make the character sympathetic, and the excessively disturbing images only make things worse. Watching this movie is more difficult than worthwhile. "C-".