You Were Never Really Here

A traumatized veteran, unafraid of violence, tracks down missing girls for a living. When a job spins out of control, Joe's nightmares overtake him as a conspiracy is uncovered—leading to what may be his death trip or his awakening.

Critics landed squarely in Lynne Ramsay's corner, praising her stripped-down, almost suffocating approach to the hitman thriller — less interested in action than in the fractured psychology of the man at its center. Joaquin Phoenix's performance drew near-universal admiration, though the film's elliptical, unrelenting intensity has proven harder for general audiences than for critics, with viewer scores considerably cooler than the critical embrace.