I've seen Lynne Ramsay's "You Were Never Really Here" compared to both "Taxi Driver" and "Oldboy" though stylistically it doesn't resemble either of them which is par for the course with Ramsay. If the plot isn't all that far removed from that of "Taxi Driver" that's about as far as it goes as Joaquin Phoenix's traumatised veteran goes in search of a senator's daughter who appears to have been kidnapped by a gang of paedophiles. However, Ramsay doesn't make it easy for us. The film is incredibly visual but is virtually wordless with the narrative being split by flashbacks to Phoenix's past, particularly to a violent childhood, apparently at the hands of his father.
It is an extremely violent picture though mercifully most of the
violence happens off-screen. Needless to say, Phoenix is terrific and
won the best actor award last year at Cannes as did Ramsay's screenplay,
adapted from a book by Jonathan Ames. It wasn't a commercial success
and consequently was ignored by Oscar. It was also Ramsay's first film
in six years and was only her fourth feature in 18 years. Let's hope we
don't have to wait so long for another film from this remarkable woman.
No comments:
Post a Comment