Review of You Were Never Really Here (2017) by Eric F — 03 Nov 2018

Iï¿ 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2(TM)ll start off by saying I like artistic movies and can appreciate a film that subverts genre expectations and takes some risks. My film tastes include foreign films, art films, along with Hollywood blockbusters.

What I canï¿ 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2(TM)t forgive is a film that hides behind artifice in order to disguise its shortcomings. This film is a mess, and if you strip away the artifice you are left with very little.

That is the definition of style over substance (and the style employed here is rather self consciously arty, bombastic, and annoyingly opaque). The plot, such as it is, is actually quite implausible and threadbare.

Without the sheen of gravitas that the editing and lugubrious pacing affords it, the sheer ludicrousness of its underlying foundation would be laid bare. I generally like Joaquin Phoenix, and he gives it his all here, but it I s in service of a terrible, disjointed film.

It I s also a performance assembled almost entirely from pained stares and weighty silence, but he manages to evoke a certain wounded empathy and is probably the best thing about the film. From some of the good reviews Iï¿ 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2(TM)ve read, thereï¿ 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2(TM)s obviously a contingent of moviegoers who will enjoy it, but I will happily align myself with the one-star club on this one.