You Were Never Really Here
2017 · Directed by Lynne Ramsay
Original language: English
- crime
- drama
- thriller
The story
A traumatized veteran, unafraid of violence, tracks down missing girls for a living. When a job spins out of control, Joe's nightmares overtake him as a conspiracy is uncovered—leading to what may be his death trip or his awakening.
What it’s like
Fractured, sound-led and hard to look away from, this is shot in grimy, low-key tones: dim hotel corridors, sodium-lit streets, flickering CCTV and kitchen-table lamplight, with the camera often pressed close to Joe's face or fixed on his back as he moves through rooms. Sudden cuts drop us into childhood memories, and a dense, industrial sound design of hammering, radio static and muffled voices gives way to long stretches of near silence broken by Jonny Greenwood's jangling, string-heavy score. The mood is bleak, dreamlike and claustrophobic, a sort of sour numbness that stays with you long after it ends, best suited to a late night alone when you want something that feels unsettling rather than comforting. Pacing is deliberately uneven, with quiet, almost wordless passages followed by abrupt bursts of brutal, sudden violence, some of it bloody and shocking, along with drug use, grief, and disturbing references to child abuse and exploitation. A withdrawn, damaged man slowly and painfully confronts the past. For viewers who want a hard, poetic, mentally heavy thriller rather than a conventional action film.
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