You Were Never Really Here (15)

Anything from Lynne Ramsay feels like a long time

coming (four films in twenty years) but always

worth waiting for. This is a striking piece of art.

Joaquin Phoenix is Joe, a bearded and bedraggled

hired gun who specialises in retrieving kidnapped

children. He has a reputation for brutality, a useful

asset when searching for a senator’s missing

daughter, Nina, eerily played by Ekaterina Samsonov.

This mission sets Joe down a path that pushes his

psyche to breaking point. Ramsay (We Need to Talk

About Kevin) is one of those auteur filmmakers who

only commits when their instinct is right. Here she

rips out the obvious elements, distilling the novella

into an abstract feeling – a fragmented dream, if you

like – one that the audience must navigate and piece

together (no wonder it was a Cannes favourite).

All this carnage plays out to a deranged yet

sometimes achingly beautiful Jonny Greenwood

composition (the lake scene is moving beyond

words). Its brutality is only matched by its beauty.

A must-see for cinephiles and the strong willed.

(Jack Whiting) Strong of stomach too, perhaps. Love

me, love my beard. Not to be wasted, Joaquin saves

it for Jesus. (Mary Magdalene. 28 & 30th)