You Were Never Really Here

You Were Never Really Here(2017) - Lynn Ramsay

Pitch black Film Noir about PTSD. Joaquin Phoenix is at his very best as a war veteran turned contract killer. Nothing about this movie is calm, even when nothing is happening the viewer is immediately conditioned to fear what might come next. Both the film and the score feel like they were edited with a butcher knife. Scenes play out like firecrackers triggering nervous flashbacks to gunshots and explosions. At any moment the film could suddenly cut to some past trauma or horror creating the tension that drives the movie. At 89 minutes, You Were Never Really Here feels like watching a movie when you have the flu and are all doped up on cough syrup…but like, in a good way. This will probably end up being one of my favorite films of the decade.