An action thriller shot like a horror movie, You Were Never Really Here is a tightly wound knot of violence that had my skin crawling for its entire 90-minute run time.
Joaquin Phoenix delivers a typically arresting performance as mercenary Joe who rescues abducted girls and wipes out traffickers. Joe suffers as a result of childhood trauma and his past in the military and FBI, and we see his flashbacks as he does, without introduction or even much rhyme or reason. They assault us as they assault him, often at inopportune moments, forcing us to question reality. Unfortunately, Joe has become world-weary and seems to be in constant agony. Whenever he's not caring for his elderly mother (Judith Roberts), he's obsessed with violence and death, often locating his anxiety around his own person. His suicidal fantasies blur together with actual suicide attempts in increasingly vivid scenarios.
It's an amazing performance, seconded only by the filmmaking. Writer and director Lynne Ramsay (We Need to Talk About Kevin) exerts her considerable control in full force here, proving her understanding not only of Joe's character but of cinematic craft. The story is a web of strands that don't always make sense; she controls our attention not on those secondary plotlines but on the psychological maze Joe travels. She gives us only the tiniest bits of information amidst impressionistic (or maybe expressionistic? I'm really not sure if this film distinguishes between the two) images and sounds, not allowing audiences to be lazy in the slightest.
The hallucinations and fantasies and flashbacks cloud the narrative enough to keep us engaged, but the close-up, clear-cut cinematography and razor-sharp editing keep us on the edge of our seat. Sure, when the blood spurts you might flinch, but I found the most violent moments to be the simplest, when Joe's agonizing existence rips through his cold exterior and he breaks down alone in his car or at the foot of his bed. When he remembers his mother counting as they hide from his abusive father. When, after shooting the man who murders his mother, he lies down next to him and holds his hand as they sing along to a song on the radio.
And, for all the violence, what impressed me most about this film is that, for a story about a hitman, the emphasis here is on the man. It's a dense character study with a few brutal punches to throw on screen, but a far more insidious agenda for your mind.
IMDb: You Were Never Really Here
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