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Kevin Michael Vance
Writer - Portland, Oregon
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Title: YOU WERE NEVER HERE
Director: Lynne Ramsay
Year: 2017
Reviewed: July 25, 2018
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Birthday Cake-Second Highest Rating |
[Rating Definitions]
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"Less artsy, more fartsy." -- Homer Simpson.
I really wanted to like "You Were Never Here". From the trailers it looked like a simple and brutal revenge-killing movie; something I could really sink my teeth into. Unfortunately, what I got was a vague long-winded art-film that was not even close to being brutal enough. The cinematography is beautiful. But scenes are held way too long. We're given brief snippets of a past life and a war that I guess are supposed to instill in us a sense of humanity for the righteous killer Joe; but again, these are vague, and inevitably mean nothing because we are given no context. The pacing is abysmally slow. It does not burn like better films; e.g. "Unforgiven" or "Blade Runner 2049", but rather plods along like a herd of bored bovine, causing me to want to fast forward it at times. Joaquin was okay I guess. He gained some mass, but showing him shirt-less is not a good idea, for unfortunately the man is structurally unbalanced; meaning there's something wrong with his frame: his chest appears concave and his shoulders are out of alignment. Also, I don't buy him as a hulking menace. And I believe that is what he was trying to convey in the film, mostly in the manner in which he walked and carried himself. Then there are scenes that are just inexplicable: I have no idea why he broke down at the end and tore off his shirt... once again walking around shirtless.
The movie's a mess. And yet, I was thinking halfway through, "I wonder if this is a book?" And it is. So, I want to read "You Were Never Really Here" just to see if it answers any of the vague questions of the movie.
"You Were Never Really Here" is not brutal enough nor deep enough and ultimately way to vague and artsy, that is why I give it a BIRTHDAY CAKE review.
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