You Were Never Really Here

Although Lynne Ramsay’s film is about a hit-man, it is totally unlike the usual hardboiled thriller. Loosely adapted from the titular 2013 novella by Jonathan Ames, the story finds its protagonist caught up in a political conspiracy—which is admittedly a standard trope—but Ramsay gives it a defiantly idiosyncratic spin. Joe (Joaquin Phoenix) is no fast-moving action hero but rather a lumbering, bearded bear of a man whose preferred weapon is a hammer, which he wields with grim ferocity. Joe is also a devoted son who cares—in between jobs—for his elderly, infirm mother. He’s haunted by memories—depicted in hallucinatory visual montages—of childhood abuse and traumatic wartime experiences, personal demons that lead him to concentrate on a particular kind of mission: eliminating those involved in the sex trade and helping girls who have been seduced or kidnapped. Joe’s latest assignment involves rescuing the daughter of a prominent politician and terminating those responsible with extreme brutality. But he ends up in the crosshairs of the powerful men behind the trafficking, even as he descends into madness. Ramsay’s attempt to transform a piece of glorified pulp into art is visually striking and Phoenix’s performance is mesmerizing, but the film remains a sterile exercise that will leave many viewers unmoved—whether to sympathy, revulsion, or anger. A film that has split critics, this is a prime example of style over substance. Optional. (F. Swietek)