![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjexWTp_M_3aZMe7D-L_8YnuiAWBaOhgWQwJ-SvRRh1beMBRqR6Rc-TSCsRFqbh4YK7r_XBC8DjS6Fv38VHpQOvtnnOglU-cXCwtq_eFwOm1KP6lEnxag2E0ao_7nWqqigDxmH4wV7bHfl_/s320/you_were_never_really_here_ver5.jpg)
'Recent' is a relative term... that was back in 2011. But it was an impressive and striking film, so I was very much up for seeing her new movie.
We Need to Talk About Kevin was adapted from a novel by Lionel Shriver and You Were Never Really Here is again based on a violent prose story, the novella by Jonathan Ames, an intriguing writer who created the TV series Bored to Death and Blunt Talk.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTqMrogDGCMmsMkC-rL0mAjIodTNuQpzNcxbnGnOj8EwbUOkTjH9lswyycEvn7aBmTAvMs8B-nuVXAcDuo_RReoRBsjKDdoT9XDi4g0iFL9T4RNBx2Hk_M4805ALroIzQIP5huCSbYNjM7/s200/you_were_never_really_here_ver7.jpg)
It’s the story of a hitman, Joe played by Joaquim Phoenix who is hired to rescue a politician’s young teenage daughter from a creepy bordello. He does so, and all hell breaks loose...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkazyymc4WwdM7ovVGOExNjq_0LG5yB4MRrjzzs10k_iO0cOYXHzVW8MBBpP3-8c9vWHnZ-KSxsA70kzw6uZHen6HqRPuhniPdVQ6xaNmNQFFAnL2nvjcjlUMi5M0p9dJJGY8_AjjznyaJ/s200/you_were_never_really_here_ver2.jpg)
Joe finds that his mother has been murdered by a couple of assassins in suits. He kills them both. It takes one quite a while to die, in Joe’s kitchen.
Joe gives him a pain killer. Then he lies on the floor beside him. They both sing along to a song on the radio, and the assassin reaches over and takes Joe’s hand and clasps it, just before he dies.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6MemftmHM4FwzFfVKNWoQiNBH7QqV0Quw8i8XbSgua1wd8gStDYVcF1jzQNeM6-4xPYnwq7bPtYIuNKC-Dh9OzP-Xob493fLDiGzJEr187UoI3e0sKPfIU1mOza2mVx6M27amBgwHhvb5/s200/you_were_never_really_here.jpg)
Joe is also suffering massive PTSD after suffering abuse as a child, and serving as a soldier in Iraq. This is superbly presented in fragmented flashbacks without ever being fully spelled out or explained, as it would have been in just about every other film.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2YaHNLqOPjxWc4UYPawvb4LmZp7cLSrqaNR3B9_5EWRP082DQviPUDWBo5guIy_-lsL3Zy_kW7BDegN2d5Q1UJuSgo_aPxreYiU6NjKK17cH23jzv2fLrjBwZc1QgiXu8qY07egluOcVe/s200/you_were_never_really_here_ver6.jpg)
Johnny Greenwood provided what was almost a parody Johnny Greenwood score. But it was good.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaDvTgGvciZfdNcXboJdYEV_1NbTMjT40fKGGD71P_fEAQBpE5RRG38kEwhcylCvA5bxqL7vqX0ULqUInyRykqy9i4F7Ah5Kk3q61jLw_4IShVoRj8HWdS951AOS_fOxQA1b9zDAz45kU4/s200/you_were_never_really_here_ver3.jpg)
And there was brilliant use of source music — wildly inappropriate cheerful pop songs of yesteryear like 'If I Knew You Were Coming I'd've Baked a Cake' and 'Angel Baby'.
Not a pleasant movie, but a genuine work of art, highly memorable and I’m already feeling faint yearnings to see it again…
(Image credits: For a rather small art movie, this has an amazing number of posters — and some really striking ones — at Imp Awards. Nice.)
No comments:
Post a Comment