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You Were Never Really Here (2018, UK release in 2017),
Director: Lynne Ramsay, rated R for language,
strong violence
Bring the hammer.
  Starring:
Joaquin Phoenix, Ekaterina Samsonov, Alex Manette, John Doman, Judith Roberts,
Alessandro Nivola, Frank Pando, Vinicius Damasceno
DML Rating:
★★★★★★★☆☆☆
- good
"Do you know what
paradise is? It's a lie, a fantasy we create about people and
places as we'd like them to be." – Joe
Why watch this? A
badly damaged man tries to do some good, and his methods are
brutal.
Plot Summary: A
traumatized military veteran who tracks down missing (and
trafficked) girls takes on a perilous mission to rescue a
senator's kidnapped daughter. When the seemingly straightforward
job quickly spirals out of control, he uncovers a massive web of
high-level political corruption and severe abuses of power.
Thrust into a deadly fight for survival, he must protect the
girl while battling his own debilitating nightmares and
traumatic past.
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Dad's Preview:
There is not an actor who better portrays debilitating
anguish better than Joaquin Phoenix. Director Lynne
Ramsay taps into this to create a powerful,
sometimes-hard-to-watch film centered on a loner, Joe,
and his career choice to hire out and find young women
who are being trafficked by vile, often wealthy,
scumbags. Joe is barely holding himself together using
controlled asphyxiation to cope with his severe PTSD. He
often contemplates his own suicide. There are merciless
flashbacks to his father and time in the military.
Joaquin gives this complex character all we can handle.
This film is a journey into darkness, and it uncovers
corruption at the highest levels, subtly nodding at
recent Epstein file injustices. Yet somehow, we walk
away with a shred of hope, and that's a reward in
itself. |
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Film4, BFI, Why
Not Prod., Page 114;
StudioCanal |
