This psychological portrait cum modern pulp noir is not for the faint of heart, often playing like an homage to the last fifteen minutes of "Taxi Driver," but the film's horrific elements are cloaked in a state of grace, Ramsey's achievement remarkable.
Ramsay has concocted a lean, mean movie that skimps on specifics yet still packs a wallop. It's one of the most remarkable examples of less-is-more storytelling in recent memory.
You Were Never Really Here is hard going: easy to revere, fascinating to explore, but nagging in its grimness and, were it not for the rooted presence of Joaquin Phoenix, difficult to believe in.
Joaquin Phoenix is simply stupendous in a revenge thriller from the brilliant Scottish filmmaker Lynne Ramsay that gets under your skin and makes it crawl. You won't know what hit you.
If you're left a little in the fog as to what's happened and why, it's not a drawback: The execution is so assured, you simply go with the flow of striking, suggestive images.
