Review: You Were Never Really Here

Possibly suicidal, PTSD-suffering war veteran Joaquin Phoenix lives with his elderly mother (Judith Roberts) and earns a living bashing creeps with a ball-peen hammer. His latest gig has him hired by a senator to rescue his daughter from the usual sex trafficking creeps.

 

I didn’t like writer-director Lynne Ramsay’s “We Need to Talk About Kevin” at all, mostly because it never really got around to talking about Kevin enough. I’d take that terrible film over this one any day of the week, even though this one is actually the better made film in my view. Yeah, this is gonna be a difficult review. This 2018 film features a committed performance by the very talented Joaquin Phoenix, but is completely off-putting and by the final act it’s just a confusing mess. I found it the complete opposite of something I wanted to be subjecting myself to, much as I willingly slogged it out. And yet I feel like it would be unfair of me to properly grade the film at all, because I feel like it’s well-made enough for what it is, for at least about three quarters of its length. I just didn’t find any interest, appeal, or fulfillment in any of it for me personally. I think I’m gonna have to cop out and use the No Rating on this one.

 

I don’t mind a bit of a downer or a dark film if I feel it’s worthwhile, but this is too dark, too down, and although Phoenix is excellent in the lead role, I was pushed away by it within about an hour. It’s not my thing in the slightest, maybe it’ll be yours. I don’t plan on revisiting it ever again. I’ll keep this one uncharacteristically short: If a mixture of “Taxi Driver”, “Hardcore”, and “Only God Forgives” sounds like your thing, watch this movie. I found it an unpleasant endurance test that gave me nothing I was interested in viewing, no matter how well executed. Now I’m gonna go shower for a week.

 

Rating: No Rating

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