You Were Never Really Here (2017)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

You Were Never Really Here (2017) – L. Ramsay

There can be no denying that Lynne Ramsay is a masterful director nor that Joaquin Phoenix is an incredible actor.  Yet despite the artistic forces at work here, the material is too grim and their respective talents cannot elevate it to transcendence.  In fact, the viewer might be led to a quixotic state of having two minds here: the first mind is awed by the shot choices and compositions which involve abstract patterns of moving colours and light layered across the image whereas the second mind is dulled by the harsh story that finds Phoenix’s traumatised war vet acting as a rescuer of underage girls subjected to sex trafficking.  The two minds may meet occasionally, of course, as when Phoenix’s character (“Joe”) experiences flashbacks to his childhood (with abusive father) or the war (seeing one child shoot another for a candy bar) or to his main coping mechanism (suffocating himself with a plastic bag).  Ramsay interweaves these snippets as a cognitive psychologist might, showing thoughts as they are prompted by the present and their emotional impact (as conveyed perfectly by Phoenix).  As elsewhere, Phoenix is not afraid to let himself appear bedraggled, wounded, imperfect – he absorbs the horror of the world for us.  Yet, a too pat ending encourages us to go on.  I haven’t watched those Liam Neeson “Taken” films but this would seem a variation on those (but the plot itself, implicating the governor/local senator in the trafficking ring, is truly beside the point here).  Proceed with caution.