ACMI presents
You Were Never Really Here
Tickets
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When
Sat 19 Sep – Fri 25 Sep 2026
A contract killer hired to find a teenage runaway inadvertently uncovers a dark and deadly conspiracy.
Joe (Joaquin Phoenix) is a traumatised and suicidal mercenary who deals in rescuing trafficked girls. His rescue methods are brutal towards the captors and when he’s not being an angel of vengeance, he is leading a solitary life, looking after his ailing mother. When a New York Senator hires him to rescue his abducted teenage daughter, Joe finds himself knee-deep in a conspiracy that goes all the way to the top and puts those around him in imminent danger.
Curator’s note
Based on the Jonathan Ames novel of the same name, Lynne Ramsay’s adaptation is a sparser, impressionistic take on the material. Moving away from the more straightforward brutality of the book, Ramsay focuses on the psychological trauma of violence. What we do see is glimpsed through CCTV footage or its bloody, brutal aftermath. Debuting the film in competition at Cannes, Ramsay went on to win Best Screenplay, while Phoenix won the award for Best Actor.
You Were Never Really Here amounts to more than a Taxi Driver for our time. Despite the obvious homage, this is a Ramsay film, rooted in the Glaswegian auteur's feverish, kaleidoscope style
Program Passes
See more films in this program for less
3-Session Pass
Full $48, Concession $42, Member $39
6-Session Pass
Full $90, Concession $78, Member $72
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