We Need To Talk About Joe

                                                                           By Tom Pacak

Joe (Joaquin Phoenix), the main protagonist of “You Were Never Really Here”, is a man damaged by his past. Most of the film we rarely see Joe on screen, instead we live in Joe’s compressed head which is always in a state of trauma. We get flashbacks of Joe’s abusive childhood and violent memories from his work in the FBI and military. He is clearly a man suffering from PTSD. Think of Joe as Freddie Quill from "The Master" but minus the alcohol.  Joe is the center of “You Were Never Really Here” a film based off of the novel by Jonathan Ames.

Since being retired from the FBI and the military, Joe works as a hired gun to rescue victims of sex trafficking.  Joe has a long beard and almost looks like a homeless person. The first scene we meet Joe he is finishing a job in New York City. Once he puts on his hoodie, Joe goes full throttle on anybody who stands in his way. His weapon of choice is not a gun but a hammer. The novel explains his reasoning behind it as: “Left very little evidence, excellent in close quarters, and seemed to frighten everyone.” Jonny Greenwood’s score helps give an electric vibe that also matches when the hammer hits the beat of the score.

Joe’s next job consists of him finding the daughter of New York State Senator Albert Votto. Joe finally finds her at a brothel in New York City. He breaks into the brothel and knocks every guard and patron with his hammer. He rescues the senator’s daughter Nina (Ekaterina Samsonov) and returns to a motel to hide out. After hiding out for a couple of hours, two mysterious security guards break in and take Nina again. Joe must then go on the same mission again but this mission is one that he’s never done before.

Director Lynne Ramsey, is a director who doesn’t let the audience member see the violence in her films. In her 2012 film “We Need To Talk About Kevin”, Ramsey makes the audience look at Kevin committing the school massacre but never showing the actual victims being impacted by the arrows. While in “You Were Never Really Here”, she shows the aftermath cameras of the brothel instead of the actual act. We never really get to see the violence Joe commits but the act and the aftermath are just as effective as being a witness to it.

A lot of people have been saying that this film is Joaquin Phoenix’s best performance. The actor has been building up his acting skills for the past decade. In “The Master” he played a lost man traumatized by war, and in “Her” he played a soulful man looking for love. Joaquin Phoenix is an actor who is always looking for new ways to portray characters. In “You Were Never Really Here”, the actor shows us the traumatized world of Joe through hallucinations. These hallucinations help Joe find out what he is going to do next. We never really know what Joe will do next but either does he.

In “We Need To Talk About Kevin”, the film is bleak and mostly pessimistic. None of the character in the film are happy and there is very little sign of hope. Meanwhile in “You Were Never Really Here” the film is mostly bleak but toward the end we get a little sign of optimism. I usually tell people when referencing “We Need To Talk About Kevin”, that the film is a great movie that’s so disturbing I don’t need to watch it again. On the other hand, “You Were Never Really Here” is a great film I hope to watch a couple more times in the future. Maybe find things I missed the first time around.

Note: Now Playing in selected theaters and everywhere April 20^th.

Rating: 4 stars out of 4 stars