“Adapted from a Jonathan Ames novella, You Were Never Really Here stars a heavily bearded Joaquin Phoenix as a severely troubled, hammer-wielding assassin whose latest job will either kill him or give him a reason to keep living. What follows is a kind of 21st century riff on Taxi Driver that morphs, by the end, into a stealth art-house remake of Logan — a deranged odyssey across a wide-ranging New York hellscape that combines sleek formal elegance, fatalistic humor, unsparing violence and another gorgeously unnerving score by Jonny Greenwood.

“[Director Lynne] Ramsay’s unwillingness to compromise artistically has often run afoul of a bottom-line-minded industry, which explains why <em>You Were Never Really Here</em> is only her fourth film in the 18 years since her brilliant, Cannes-premiered debut feature, <em>Ratcatcher</em>. Her return seals her standing as one of our most fearless and forceful filmmakers, if not one as prolific as she deserves to be.” — from Justin Chang‘s review, posted in the Los Angeles Times on 6.1.17.