A taught, nervous, noir thriller as traumatised veteran Joaquin Phoenix tracks down missing persons – with liberal use of violence when necessary. With the disappearance of a senator’s daughter, Phoenix finds himself in a tight-knit paedophile ring.
Winner of both best screenplay and best actor at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, director Lynne Ramsay has adapted the novel by Jonathan Ames into a moodily stylish ellipsis of flashbacks, suggestion and suppression. It’s a pity that You Were Never Really Here occasionally lapses into incoherence.
Rating: 63%
Director: Lynne Ramsay (We Need to Talk About Kevin, Ratcatcher)
Writer: Lynne Ramsay (We Need to Talk About Kevin, Ratcatcher) – adapted from the novel by Jonathan Ames
Main cast: Joaquin Phoenix (Walk the Line, Inherent Vice), Judith Roberts (The Nanny Diaries, Fast Food Fast Women), Ekaterina Samsonov (Wonderstruck, The Ticket)
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