This is a film I knew very little about before watching it, and is now one of my favourites of the year. Lynne Ramsay, director of We Need to Talk About Kevin writes and directs this film, where a PTSD ridden veteran that tracks down young girls that have gone missing finds himself tied up in a troublesome matter. This film is dark, gritty, brutal, and exactly what I wanted to see.
There's not many performances I can really talk about in this film. There are many supporting performances that are given minimal screen time so I can't strongly analyze them. What I can discuss however, is the brilliant performance from Joaquin Phoenix this film holds. Phoenix plays Joe, the veteran the film centers around, and brings to life a deeply complex character that I found incredible. Joe deals with a lot of psychological issues especially surrounding suicide and Phoenix portrays them emotionally and realistically, giving his character a deeper emotion depth than it would have without those elements. He also has a level of brutality that was very impressive. This is one of those films that can be seen as a character study, one where instead of seeing the growth of a character we learn about the character through his emotions and interactions. I honestly can't commend Phoenix enough for his work in this film, his performance is brutal yet quiet and very emotional, and I found his performance made it very easy to connect with the character.
The other stars of the film are writer/ director Lynne Ramsay and her creative team. Let me first start by saying that if I didn't know before hand that a woman directed this film I probably wouldn't be aware of it until writing this review. This is similar to films like American Psycho and The Hurt Locker, as these films portray masculinity and brutality so well it is almost shocking that a woman is behind the camera. I in no way mean this in a bad way, I fully believe women can make films as good and even better than men, and some can clearly direct violence incredibly well, but the way the story centers around a very brutal and masculine man, not to mention some subject matter in the film, I was surprised and very impressed to see Ramsay as the director and writer. She does an incredible job telling this story and building Joe as a character. Throughout the film I didn't think enough was being developed, but after some thought it has become clear that although not everything is laid out clearly for the audience, there is enough there to piece everything together and it ends up working in the film's favour to provide a more rewarding watch. Cinematography wise I was thoroughly impressed. I don't always notice cinematography over things like story and acting, but there were some shots and focus shifts that are firmly sketched into my brain. There is a lot of solid camera movement and the inventiveness of some of the shots overall impressed me a ton. The sound design is also superb. Johnny Greenwood delivers an incredible score, one that you can tell is something special just seconds in. There is also use of off-screen sound from time to time that worked really well in building intrigue.
My complaints in this movie are barely even complaints. I just wanted more of everything. Joe doesn't need to be developed any more than he is, but I wanted him to just because of how interesting of a character he is. The score is utilized less as the film goes on, which works as a quite effective choice in sound design, but the score is so great I just wanted more. This movie could be an hour longer and still have me hooked, but I'm more than happy with the hour and a half of fantastic filmmaking this is. A job very well done for all involved.
Rating: 4.6/5
Written by Matt McKenzie
There's not many performances I can really talk about in this film. There are many supporting performances that are given minimal screen time so I can't strongly analyze them. What I can discuss however, is the brilliant performance from Joaquin Phoenix this film holds. Phoenix plays Joe, the veteran the film centers around, and brings to life a deeply complex character that I found incredible. Joe deals with a lot of psychological issues especially surrounding suicide and Phoenix portrays them emotionally and realistically, giving his character a deeper emotion depth than it would have without those elements. He also has a level of brutality that was very impressive. This is one of those films that can be seen as a character study, one where instead of seeing the growth of a character we learn about the character through his emotions and interactions. I honestly can't commend Phoenix enough for his work in this film, his performance is brutal yet quiet and very emotional, and I found his performance made it very easy to connect with the character.
The other stars of the film are writer/ director Lynne Ramsay and her creative team. Let me first start by saying that if I didn't know before hand that a woman directed this film I probably wouldn't be aware of it until writing this review. This is similar to films like American Psycho and The Hurt Locker, as these films portray masculinity and brutality so well it is almost shocking that a woman is behind the camera. I in no way mean this in a bad way, I fully believe women can make films as good and even better than men, and some can clearly direct violence incredibly well, but the way the story centers around a very brutal and masculine man, not to mention some subject matter in the film, I was surprised and very impressed to see Ramsay as the director and writer. She does an incredible job telling this story and building Joe as a character. Throughout the film I didn't think enough was being developed, but after some thought it has become clear that although not everything is laid out clearly for the audience, there is enough there to piece everything together and it ends up working in the film's favour to provide a more rewarding watch. Cinematography wise I was thoroughly impressed. I don't always notice cinematography over things like story and acting, but there were some shots and focus shifts that are firmly sketched into my brain. There is a lot of solid camera movement and the inventiveness of some of the shots overall impressed me a ton. The sound design is also superb. Johnny Greenwood delivers an incredible score, one that you can tell is something special just seconds in. There is also use of off-screen sound from time to time that worked really well in building intrigue.
My complaints in this movie are barely even complaints. I just wanted more of everything. Joe doesn't need to be developed any more than he is, but I wanted him to just because of how interesting of a character he is. The score is utilized less as the film goes on, which works as a quite effective choice in sound design, but the score is so great I just wanted more. This movie could be an hour longer and still have me hooked, but I'm more than happy with the hour and a half of fantastic filmmaking this is. A job very well done for all involved.
Rating: 4.6/5
Written by Matt McKenzie
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