You Were Never Really Here

Lynnie Ramsay SHOOKS your SEAT with Joaquín Phoenix as the Joker on the steering wheel. You Were Never Really Here narrates a perfectly subtle art film in Lynnie's style. "How can a man save anyone if he can't save himself?" Joe was daunted, traumatized by his cruel childhood and his evil father. Sent as an agent to war, and traumatized on his duty by empathizing more and more with the children he got to save, dozens of times. At times I think this film depicts Joaquín Phoenix as yet another child, looking to be saved. It's not the children he's looking forward to having. It's the one he hasn't saved yet in himself. Jonny Greenwood's soundtrack and score is astonishing and powerful. Very important in a film that doesn't have too much dialogue. Cinematography wise the film is STUNNING. As a photographer myself I feel teary reminiscing and going over the shots of this film from the beginning. The mirror shot, the water shot, the sequence in the end with the bullet. How time flies by. How absent minded can you be when you were shown what true cruelty is? How can anyone notice you, give you caring and warmth when you struggle SO much to breathe for another minute. You Were Never Really Here is gorgeous. It broke my mind in pieces. It started slow, dull but took film to a whole different degree. This is filmmaking. Telling stories through art. What would you do as an ex soldier in the middle of New York? You save children already? Do you even care for your life? How do you manage sorrow, pain? Your mother is your only friend? Not much can be done, and no one will truly see you. No matter how many people you save, how much you gasp underneath a towel or plastic bag, it'll go unseen. I haven't cried many times for the sake of cinema... This is one of them