You Were Never Really Here (15)
Glaswegian director Lynne Ramsay is no stranger to powerful, thoughtprovoking cinema.
Stunning debut Ratcatcher was followed by Morvern Callar and We Need to Talk About Kevin and for her fourth big screen outing, the 48-year-old continues to show a keen eye for challenging content.
For the third film in a row, Ramsay adapts a novel; this time Jonathan Ames’ same-titled 2013 best-seller.
Joaquin Phoenix stars as traumatised veteran Joe who tracks down missing girls for a living, with his latest job involving senator’s daughter Nina (Ekaterina Samsonov) plunging him into a conspiracy nightmare.
Whereas Hollywood hits like The Equalizer, Man on Fire and even Taken tackled similar ground with little tact and a propensity for extreme violence, Ramsay takes a more measured approach and despite coming in short of 90 minutes, You Were Never Really Here unfolds at a sedate pace.
That’s not to say her stripped-back delivery doesn’t entertain; far from it as barely any screen time is wasted.
The film would live or die by Phoenix’s performance, though, and it’s nice to see the Puerto Rico-born star back on form following that crazy post-2010 period where he convinced the world he’d gone insane for dire dramedy I’m Still Here and overplayed the creepy in The