I had heard a lot of critical praise for her most recent film, You Were Never Really Here (which she wrote and directed) and decided that I had to see it.
It's the tale of a man, ex-military and ex-law enforcement, who rescues kidnapped and trafficked girls. It sports a lauded lead performance from Joaquin Phoenix.
And it streams on Amazon Prime.
So I sat down and gave it a whirl.
Almost certainly not. It is a brutal affair. It boasts a nuanced performance from Joaquin Phoenix, and is confidently directed and crafted, but it is not an easy movie to just turn on and "enjoy." If you're a fan of violent films, consider this an art-house action movie that refuses to skimp on emotional damage. If that sounds like your cup of tea, go ahead and drink. It streams on Amazon.
- The film received a standing ovation at Cannes, and took home awards for Best Actor and Best Screenplay. The film was finished just a few days before it screened.
I. Just Ugly
The "Sad Hit Man" genre of films has been done to death, at this point. The tropes are worn out and there are only so many stories of a bad man breaking good that you can tell. Where else can you go? Lynn Ramsay decided to go grim dark.
She stripped away the fluff and the funny and the charm and gave us the ugly.
Joe is a broken man. It takes a broken man to do what he does, though. He finds captured girls and returns them home. And he punishes the men responsible. But such a thing takes a toll on a person. Joe sees victims everywhere. He is constantly flashing back to his own abusive childhood and terrible experience as a soldier. He is always a single step away from completing his own suicide. But he can't.
He has to continue his work.
If you've ever wondered what The Punisher might look like outside of the confines of a Marvel comic, You Were Never Really Here presents that to you in vivid color. It is probably as close as an actor like Joaquin Phoenix will ever get to playing a super hero.
An interesting observation: while Ramsay is not averse to showing horrific acts of violence, she often stages them off screen or difficult to see. Joe fires his gun, pointed off screen, and we hear two bodies thump to the floor (that crisp sound design at work); or we see Joe's assault on a trafficking den from the perspective of a rotating series of security cameras: we either see the violence at the end of the hallway, in grainy black and white, or we see the after effects, like a leg sticking into frame in the bottom left, or a slowly spreading pool of blood. There are times where the act of violence needs to be seen, and Ramsay shows us, but she just as often only shows us the before and after. I think it's a clever filmmaking trick to force the viewer to see that violence in their mind, as opposed to on the screen.
The film is not always pleasant. But it is fresh. It is different.
Even if I never want to see it again.
She stripped away the fluff and the funny and the charm and gave us the ugly.
Joe is a broken man. It takes a broken man to do what he does, though. He finds captured girls and returns them home. And he punishes the men responsible. But such a thing takes a toll on a person. Joe sees victims everywhere. He is constantly flashing back to his own abusive childhood and terrible experience as a soldier. He is always a single step away from completing his own suicide. But he can't.
He has to continue his work.
If you've ever wondered what The Punisher might look like outside of the confines of a Marvel comic, You Were Never Really Here presents that to you in vivid color. It is probably as close as an actor like Joaquin Phoenix will ever get to playing a super hero.
An interesting observation: while Ramsay is not averse to showing horrific acts of violence, she often stages them off screen or difficult to see. Joe fires his gun, pointed off screen, and we hear two bodies thump to the floor (that crisp sound design at work); or we see Joe's assault on a trafficking den from the perspective of a rotating series of security cameras: we either see the violence at the end of the hallway, in grainy black and white, or we see the after effects, like a leg sticking into frame in the bottom left, or a slowly spreading pool of blood. There are times where the act of violence needs to be seen, and Ramsay shows us, but she just as often only shows us the before and after. I think it's a clever filmmaking trick to force the viewer to see that violence in their mind, as opposed to on the screen.
The film is not always pleasant. But it is fresh. It is different.
Even if I never want to see it again.
II. Brutality and Tenderness
For all his willing violence, Joe is a surprisingly tender man.
He plays with his aging mother, whom he watches over with delicacy, treats the rescued girls with care, and even stays with a dying gut-shot thug, laying on the kitchen floor, singing along to the radio and holding his hand as he dies.
It is a fascinating contradiction, and Phoenix toes the line nimbly. He is one of the finest actors of his generation and he continues to take on difficult, challenging work. He's managed to stay away from big-tent IPs so far, but he excels at presenting ugly men in nuanced and skillful ways.
And it is juxtaposed powerfully with long stretches of abject silence, where the viewer must bear witness to what is on screen alone. Paired with the lush sound design and the haunting repetition of that 50s classic, "Angel Baby," this is a movie that sounds as hauntingly beautiful as it looks.
His work, here, is beautiful and terrifying. It serves the material wonderfully.
He plays with his aging mother, whom he watches over with delicacy, treats the rescued girls with care, and even stays with a dying gut-shot thug, laying on the kitchen floor, singing along to the radio and holding his hand as he dies.
It is a fascinating contradiction, and Phoenix toes the line nimbly. He is one of the finest actors of his generation and he continues to take on difficult, challenging work. He's managed to stay away from big-tent IPs so far, but he excels at presenting ugly men in nuanced and skillful ways.
III. Jonny Greenwood's Pounding Dread
Jonny Greenwood has made a name for himself as a talented scorer of films. Ya know, outside of his stint in that little indy band, Radiohead. In this film, his score is thumping drive, frenetic chaos, and haunting discord by turns.And it is juxtaposed powerfully with long stretches of abject silence, where the viewer must bear witness to what is on screen alone. Paired with the lush sound design and the haunting repetition of that 50s classic, "Angel Baby," this is a movie that sounds as hauntingly beautiful as it looks.
His work, here, is beautiful and terrifying. It serves the material wonderfully.
IV. Absolutely Beautiful
Tom Townend knows how to frame a shot. He knows how to compose beautifully ugly images that linger in your mind's eye. This film is well-shot, and beautifully composed. I particularly enjoyed the juxtaposition of the washed out urban sprawl and the lush greens of the New York woodlands. Joe exists in two worlds: the homey, old school home he shares with his mother, and the violent neon-drenched seedy underbelly of the city. Townend makes each world pop and contrast each other well.
V. A Brutal 90 Minutes
You would be hard pressed to find a longer-feeling, more brutal, stomach-churning 90 minutes of cinema than You Were Never Really Here. The film doesn't waste time. It tells a simple story simply, and relies on action as opposed to long-winded monologues or exposition. The viewer is left with puzzle pieces and is tasked with putting them together. There is a school of thought, in storytelling, that suggests you give your viewer "2 + 2" instead of "4," and let them alone to figure it out. Ramsay's script allows the viewer to construct the story and reality instead of stating anything outright. Ramsay does not spare you any of the heavy lifting, and it is heavy lifting, indeed.
This is not a movie for everyone.
This is not a movie for everyone.
VI. Should You See It?
Miscellany
- Phoenix was given an audio recording of fireworks and gunshot noises by Ramsay to help him understand what is going on in Joe's head.- The film received a standing ovation at Cannes, and took home awards for Best Actor and Best Screenplay. The film was finished just a few days before it screened.
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