You Were Never Really Here (2017)

Based on the 2013 novella of the same name by Jonathan Ames, You Were Never Really Here stars Joaquin Phoenix as Joe, a New Yorker whose traumatic childhood and war experiences produced profound psychological stress which he channels through his job rescuing women from human trafficking. On a job to rescue the daughter of a New York state senator things take an unexpected turn and Joe finds himself forced on the run, with everyone he loves in life in potential danger. At first I was not liking this movie, its more then a little jarring and scant on the narrative details, but you spend enough time with this character and the creepy world he forces himself to enter and the mood of the piece has an affect. The scene of the rescue of the little girl from the townhouse "club'', shown as black and white security camera footage, with the 50's song 'Angel Baby' playing in the background, that's a unique type of creepy. The emotional distance of the characters in the piece seems fitting, what a difficult world, what a trail to attempt to do good there, the long term impact on the human soul of seeing the things Joe must have seen, I can hardly even fathom. There is a fair amount of Taxi Driver in evocation here, though kind of inverted, but You Were Never Really Here is still a unique work, with a topicality that you fear is just beneath the surface and likely more prevalent then one could stand to contemplate. ***1/2