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** The [[spoiler: second and final time]] Joe attempts to rescue Nina, once he finally reaches her, [[spoiler: [[DamselOutOfDistress she had already killed Governor Williams herself]], proving she's more than capable of defending herself]]. This is probably the only time this trope is used with positive results.
to:
** The [[spoiler: second and final time]] Joe attempts to rescue Nina, once he finally reaches her, [[spoiler: [[DamselOutOfDistress she had already killed Governor Williams herself]], proving she's more than capable of defending herself]]. This is probably the only time this trope is used in the film with positive results.
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* AlasPoorVillain:
** The camera lingers on the mugger who attacked Joe and got headbutt for his troubles. The man crouches on the pavement, gasping for breath, and then pukes.
** A very curious scene has Joe shoot one of the BigBad's thugs and, after a little half-hearted kicking and smacking the dying man for information, he gives him a painkiller, lies down beside him and starts humming an old song with him. [[StayWithMeUntilIDie The thug even reaches out to hold Joe's hand]]. All this in spite of [[spoiler:the thug being one of two men responsible for killing Joe's mother. It's implied that Joe is too grieved to sustain any anger at the man]].
** The camera lingers on the mugger who attacked Joe and got headbutt for his troubles. The man crouches on the pavement, gasping for breath, and then pukes.
** A very curious scene has Joe shoot one of the BigBad's thugs and, after a little half-hearted kicking and smacking the dying man for information, he gives him a painkiller, lies down beside him and starts humming an old song with him. [[StayWithMeUntilIDie The thug even reaches out to hold Joe's hand]]. All this in spite of [[spoiler:the thug being one of two men responsible for killing Joe's mother. It's implied that Joe is too grieved to sustain any anger at the man]].
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* AllForNothing: Happens ''a lot'' throughout the story:
** During his time in the military, Joe offers a candy bar to a young boy, only for the boy to get immediately killed and mugged.
** This extends once again into his time working for the FBI, where his team finds a cargo crate full of dead teenage girls.
** Once Joe rescues Nina, they both find out that [[spoiler: [[DrivenToSuicide her father committed suicide out of regret for selling her into sexual slavery]]. And then only a minute later, Nina is kidnapped again...]]
** The [[spoiler: second and final time]] Joe attempts to rescue Nina, once he finally reaches her, [[spoiler: [[DamselOutOfDistress she had already killed Governor Williams herself]], proving she's more than capable of defending herself]]. This is probably the only time this trope is used with positive results.
** It's implied Joe feels this way [[StrawNihilist about himself]] given his constant suicidal thoughts.
* AlasPoorVillain:
** The camera lingers on the mugger who attacked Joe and got headbutt for his troubles. The man crouches on the pavement, gasping for breath, and then pukes.
** A very curious scene has Joe shoot one of the BigBad's thugs and, after a little half-hearted kicking and smacking the dying man for information, he gives him a painkiller, lies down beside him and starts humming an old song with him. [[StayWithMeUntilIDie The thug even reaches out to hold Joe's hand]]. All this in spite of [[spoiler:the thug being one of two men responsible for killing Joe's mother. It's implied that Joe is too grieved to sustain any anger at the man]].
** During his time in the military, Joe offers a candy bar to a young boy, only for the boy to get immediately killed and mugged.
** This extends once again into his time working for the FBI, where his team finds a cargo crate full of dead teenage girls.
** Once Joe rescues Nina, they both find out that [[spoiler: [[DrivenToSuicide her father committed suicide out of regret for selling her into sexual slavery]]. And then only a minute later, Nina is kidnapped again...]]
** The [[spoiler: second and final time]] Joe attempts to rescue Nina, once he finally reaches her, [[spoiler: [[DamselOutOfDistress she had already killed Governor Williams herself]], proving she's more than capable of defending herself]]. This is probably the only time this trope is used with positive results.
** It's implied Joe feels this way [[StrawNihilist about himself]] given his constant suicidal thoughts.
* AlasPoorVillain:
** The camera lingers on the mugger who attacked Joe and got headbutt for his troubles. The man crouches on the pavement, gasping for breath, and then pukes.
** A very curious scene has Joe shoot one of the BigBad's thugs and, after a little half-hearted kicking and smacking the dying man for information, he gives him a painkiller, lies down beside him and starts humming an old song with him. [[StayWithMeUntilIDie The thug even reaches out to hold Joe's hand]]. All this in spite of [[spoiler:the thug being one of two men responsible for killing Joe's mother. It's implied that Joe is too grieved to sustain any anger at the man]].
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* AteHisGun: [[spoiler:Joe has an ImagineSpot of eating his gun in the diner in the very last scene, but then Nina returns and says that it's a beautiful day, rousing Joe from his dark fantasy]].
to:
* AteHisGun: [[spoiler:Joe has an ImagineSpot Imagine Spot of eating his gun in the diner in the very last scene, but then Nina returns and says that it's a beautiful day, rousing Joe from his dark fantasy]].
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Changed line(s) 14 (click to see context) from:
* AteHisGun: [[spoiler:Joe has an Imagine Spot of eating his gun in the diner in the very last scene, but then Nina returns and says that it's a beautiful day, rousing Joe from his dark fantasy]].
to:
* AteHisGun: [[spoiler:Joe has an Imagine Spot ImagineSpot of eating his gun in the diner in the very last scene, but then Nina returns and says that it's a beautiful day, rousing Joe from his dark fantasy]].
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* BewareTheQuietOnes: Joe is a pretty quiet man, but he also has a reputation for being quite brutal.
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* SilentAntagonist: The BigBad of the film Governor Williams has no lines in the movie, and we only ever see him [[spoiler: after Nina has killed him]].
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* DadTheVeteran: [[spoiler:Becomes an adopted version of this to Nina at the end.]]
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* DadTheVeteran: [[spoiler:Becomes [[spoiler:Joe becomes an adopted version of this to Nina at the end.]]
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* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler: Joe and Nina]] are the only characters who survive to the very end of the film.
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* SoundtrackDissonance: The SugarWiki/SweetDreamsFuel song "Angel Baby" by Rosie & The Originals plays during not one, but ''two'' scenes of Joe's [[RoaringRampageOfRescue Roaring Rampages of Rescue]] to save Nina.
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Changed line(s) 3,4 (click to see context) from:
''You Were Never Really Here'' is a 2018 thriller film written and directed by indie auteur Lynne Ramsay (''Literature/MorvernCallar'', ''Film/WeNeedToTalkAboutKevin''). It stars Creator/JoaquinPhoenix as Joe, a ShellShockedVeteran who works to free young girls from sexual slavery. Joe is chosen to save Nina (Ekaterina Samsonov), the daughter of Senator Albert Votto, only to uncover a conspiracy that's larger than it seems.
to:
''You Were Never Really Here'' is a 2018 thriller film written and directed by indie auteur Lynne Ramsay (''Literature/MorvernCallar'', ''Film/WeNeedToTalkAboutKevin''). It stars Creator/JoaquinPhoenix as Joe, a ShellShockedVeteran who works to free young girls from sexual slavery. Joe is chosen hired to save Nina (Ekaterina Samsonov), the daughter of Senator Albert Votto, only to uncover a conspiracy that's larger than it seems.
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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/you_were_never_really_here_poster.jpg]]
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** A very curious scene has Joe shoot one of the BigBad's thugs and, after a little half-hearted kicking and smacking the dying man for information, he gives him a painkiller, lies down beside him and starts humming an old song with him. The thug even reaches out to hold Joe's hand. All this in spite of [[spoiler:the thug being one of two men responsible for killing Joe's mother. It's implied that Joe is too grieved to sustain any anger at the man]].
to:
** A very curious scene has Joe shoot one of the BigBad's thugs and, after a little half-hearted kicking and smacking the dying man for information, he gives him a painkiller, lies down beside him and starts humming an old song with him. [[StayWithMeUntilIDie The thug even reaches out to hold Joe's hand.hand]]. All this in spite of [[spoiler:the thug being one of two men responsible for killing Joe's mother. It's implied that Joe is too grieved to sustain any anger at the man]].
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* AteHisGun: [[spoiler:Joe has an ImagineSpot of eating his gun in the diner in the very last scene, but then Nina returns and says that it's a beautiful day, rousing Joe from his dark fantasy]].
to:
* AteHisGun: [[spoiler:Joe has an ImagineSpot Imagine Spot of eating his gun in the diner in the very last scene, but then Nina returns and says that it's a beautiful day, rousing Joe from his dark fantasy]].
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Changed line(s) 13 (click to see context) from:
* TheBigRottenApple: New York is shown to be a corrupt, uncaring place [[spoiler:not even getting into the, child trafficking ring headed by Governor Williams.]] Beyond that, exteriors are shown as an almost deafening cacophony of noise, putting the audience in Joe's shoes.
to:
* TheBigRottenApple: New York is shown to be a corrupt, uncaring place [[spoiler:not even getting into the, the child trafficking ring headed by Governor Williams.]] Beyond that, exteriors are shown as an almost deafening cacophony of noise, putting the audience in Joe's shoes.
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* DadTheVeteran: [[spoiler:Becomes an adopted version of this to Nina at the end.]]
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* DarkAndTroubledPast: Oh lord, ''Joe''.
** His father was abusive towards him and his mother, with his habit of putting plastic bags over his face implied to be a defense mechanism carried over from cihldhood.
** He then later joined the army, where he gave a candy bar to a young child who was later murdered for it in front of his eyes.
** After that he joined the FBI, where a mission leads to him discovering a meat locker full of dead girls.
** His father was abusive towards him and his mother, with his habit of putting plastic bags over his face implied to be a defense mechanism carried over from cihldhood.
** He then later joined the army, where he gave a candy bar to a young child who was later murdered for it in front of his eyes.
** After that he joined the FBI, where a mission leads to him discovering a meat locker full of dead girls.
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* ImagineSpot: Joe has a number of flashbacks to previous trauma as well as a few hallucinations. In the end, he imagines [[spoiler:shooting himself in the head. A few moments later, the fantasy is gone, and we see that Joe has simply slumped his head on the table]].
to:
* ImagineSpot: Joe has a number of flashbacks to previous trauma as well as a few hallucinations. In the end, he imagines [[spoiler:shooting himself in the head. A few moments later, the fantasy is gone, and we see that Joe has simply slumped his head dozed off on the table]].
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* ShellShockedVeteran: Joe has flashbacks to his time overseas. One particular scene haunts him in which he gave candy to a young boy, who was promptly murdered for the candy by another boy.
to:
* ShellShockedVeteran: Joe has flashbacks to his time overseas. One Two particular scene haunts him scenes haunt him. One in which he gave candy to a young boy, who was promptly murdered for the candy by another boy.boy. The other is during a stint in the FBI, where he sees a meat locker full of dead girls.
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Changed line(s) 1,2 (click to see context) from:
''You Were Never Really Here'' is a 2018 thriller film written and directed by indie auteur Lynne Ramsay (''Literature/MorvernCallar'', ''Film/WeNeedToTalkAboutKevin''). It stars Creator/JoaquinPhoenix as Joe, a ShellShockedVeteran who works to free young girls from sexual slavery. Joe is chosen to save Nina (Ekaterina Samsonov), the daughter of Senator Albert Votto, only to uncover a conspiracy much more complicated than it seems.
to:
''You Were Never Really Here'' is a 2018 thriller film written and directed by indie auteur Lynne Ramsay (''Literature/MorvernCallar'', ''Film/WeNeedToTalkAboutKevin''). It stars Creator/JoaquinPhoenix as Joe, a ShellShockedVeteran who works to free young girls from sexual slavery. Joe is chosen to save Nina (Ekaterina Samsonov), the daughter of Senator Albert Votto, only to uncover a conspiracy much more complicated that's larger than it seems.
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* AteHisGun: [[spoiler:Joe has an Imagine Spot of eating his gun in the diner in the very last scene, but then Nina returns and says that it's a beautiful day, rousing Joe from his dark fantasy]].
to:
* AteHisGun: [[spoiler:Joe has an Imagine Spot ImagineSpot of eating his gun in the diner in the very last scene, but then Nina returns and says that it's a beautiful day, rousing Joe from his dark fantasy]].
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Changed line(s) 1,2 (click to see context) from:
''You Were Never Really Here'' is a 2018 thriller film written and directed by indie auteur Lynne Ramsay (''Literature/MorvernCallar'', ''Film/WeNeedToTalkAboutKevin''). It stars Creator/JoaquinPhoenix as a ShellSockedVeteran who works to free young girls from sexual slavery. Joe is chosen to save Nina (Ekaterina Samsonov), the daughter of Senator Albert Votto, only to uncover a conspiracy much more complicated than it seems.
to:
''You Were Never Really Here'' is a 2018 thriller film written and directed by indie auteur Lynne Ramsay (''Literature/MorvernCallar'', ''Film/WeNeedToTalkAboutKevin''). It stars Creator/JoaquinPhoenix as Joe, a ShellSockedVeteran ShellShockedVeteran who works to free young girls from sexual slavery. Joe is chosen to save Nina (Ekaterina Samsonov), the daughter of Senator Albert Votto, only to uncover a conspiracy much more complicated than it seems.
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Changed line(s) 1,2 (click to see context) from:
''You Were Never Really Here'' is a 2018 thriller film written and directed by indie auteur Lynne Ramsay (''Literature/MorvernCallar'', ''Film/WeNeedToTalkAboutKevin''). It stars Creator/JoaquinPhoenix as a shell-shocked veteran who takes a job rescuing a girl from sexual slavery.
to:
''You Were Never Really Here'' is a 2018 thriller film written and directed by indie auteur Lynne Ramsay (''Literature/MorvernCallar'', ''Film/WeNeedToTalkAboutKevin''). It stars Creator/JoaquinPhoenix as a shell-shocked veteran ShellSockedVeteran who takes a job rescuing a girl works to free young girls from sexual slavery.
slavery. Joe is chosen to save Nina (Ekaterina Samsonov), the daughter of Senator Albert Votto, only to uncover a conspiracy much more complicated than it seems.
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* TheBigRottenApple: New York is shown to be a corrupt, uncaring place [[spoiler:not even getting into the, child trafficking ring headed by Governor Williams.]] Beyond that, exteriors are shown as an almost deafening cacophony of noise, putting the audience in Joe's shoes.
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''You Were Never Really Here'' is a 2018 thriller film written and directed by indie auteur Lynne Ramsay (''Ratcatcher'', ''Film/WeNeedToTalkAboutKevin''). It stars Creator/JoaquinPhoenix as a shell-shocked veteran who takes a job rescuing a girl from sexual slavery.
to:
''You Were Never Really Here'' is a 2018 thriller film written and directed by indie auteur Lynne Ramsay (''Ratcatcher'', (''Literature/MorvernCallar'', ''Film/WeNeedToTalkAboutKevin''). It stars Creator/JoaquinPhoenix as a shell-shocked veteran who takes a job rescuing a girl from sexual slavery.
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''You Were Never Really Here'' is a 2018 thriller film written and directed by indie auteur Creator/LynneRamsay (''Film/WeNeedToTalkAboutKevin''). It stars Creator/JoaquinPhoenix as a shell-shocked veteran who takes a job rescuing a girl from sexual slavery.
to:
''You Were Never Really Here'' is a 2018 thriller film written and directed by indie auteur Creator/LynneRamsay (''Film/WeNeedToTalkAboutKevin'').Lynne Ramsay (''Ratcatcher'', ''Film/WeNeedToTalkAboutKevin''). It stars Creator/JoaquinPhoenix as a shell-shocked veteran who takes a job rescuing a girl from sexual slavery.
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* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Joe manages to rescue Nina, but at the cost of every other supporting character dying.]]
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* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Joe manages to rescue Nina, who helps him pull through a particularly severe suicidal impulse so they can go out on a beautiful day, but at the cost of every other supporting character dying.]]
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* BittersweetEnding: [SPOILER=Joe manages to rescue Nina, but at the cost of every other supporting character dying.]
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* BittersweetEnding: [SPOILER=Joe [[spoiler:Joe manages to rescue Nina, but at the cost of every other supporting character dying.]]]
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* BittersweetEnding: [SPOILER=Joe manages to rescue Nina, but at the cost of every other supporting character dying.]
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* AteHisGun: [[spoiler:Joe has an Imagine Spot of eating his gun in the diner in the very last scene, but then Nina returns and says that it's a beautiful day, rousing Joe from his dark fantasy]].
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* ProperlyParanoid: Joe prefers to work through an intermediary and keep his location a secret. He's upset when his handler's son figures out where he lives, which he sees as a security breach. By the midpoint of the film, thugs are after him and use the handler's son to locate Joe's address.
to:
* ProperlyParanoid: Joe prefers to work through an intermediary and keep his location a secret.secret, which John finds to be overly paranoid. He's upset when his handler's son figures out where he lives, which he sees as a security breach. By the midpoint of the film, thugs are after him and use the handler's son to locate Joe's address.
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* AlasPoorVillain: A very curious scene has Joe shoot one of the BigBad's thugs and, after a little half-hearted kicking and smacking the dying man for information, he gives him a painkiller, lies down beside him and starts humming an old song with him. The thug even reaches out to hold Joe's hand. All this in spite of [[spoiler:the thug being one of two men responsible for killing Joe's mother. It's implied that Joe is too grieved to sustain any anger at the man]].
to:
* AlasPoorVillain: AlasPoorVillain:
** The camera lingers on the mugger who attacked Joe and got headbutt for his troubles. The man crouches on the pavement, gasping for breath, and then pukes.
** A very curious scene has Joe shoot one of the BigBad's thugs and, after a little half-hearted kicking and smacking the dying man for information, he gives him a painkiller, lies down beside him and starts humming an old song with him. The thug even reaches out to hold Joe's hand. All this in spite of [[spoiler:the thug being one of two men responsible for killing Joe's mother. It's implied that Joe is too grieved to sustain any anger at the man]].
** The camera lingers on the mugger who attacked Joe and got headbutt for his troubles. The man crouches on the pavement, gasping for breath, and then pukes.
** A very curious scene has Joe shoot one of the BigBad's thugs and, after a little half-hearted kicking and smacking the dying man for information, he gives him a painkiller, lies down beside him and starts humming an old song with him. The thug even reaches out to hold Joe's hand. All this in spite of [[spoiler:the thug being one of two men responsible for killing Joe's mother. It's implied that Joe is too grieved to sustain any anger at the man]].
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* MuggingTheMonster: In a very early scene, Joe establishes his badass credentials by casually headbutting a would-be mugger who attacks him with a blackjack.
to:
* MuggingTheMonster: In a very early scene, Joe establishes his badass credentials by casually headbutting a would-be mugger who attacks him with a blackjack. Joe visually contemplates delivering another blow, but simply walks away, also establishing him as someone without any tendencies toward sadism or rage.
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* DamselInDistress: Nina, the 13-year-old girl who was sold into sexual slavery.
to:
* DamselInDistress: Nina, the 13-year-old girl who was sold into sexual slavery. Joe is hired to rescue her, which he does midway through the film.
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Changed line(s) 15 (click to see context) from:
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Joe comes home to find that his mother has passed out in front of the television. When he takes her glasses off, she bursts out laughing, announcing that she "got him." This establishes her as someone beyond just a dotering old lady.
to:
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Joe comes home to find that his mother has passed out in front of the television. When he takes her glasses off, she bursts out laughing, announcing that she "got him." This establishes her as someone beyond just a dotering old lady.their loving relationship, and is also meaningfully the only time Joe laughs.
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* MeaningfulEcho: Time is spent showing Joe buying and then offering various types of candy and soda to Nina. His flashbacks show that he's haunted by an instance when he gave candy to a boy in a war zone, causing the boy to get killed for the candy.
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* RuleOfSymbolism: One can draw a lot of conclusions from a sequence where Joe complains about there not being any green jelly beans, his favorite. When he finds one, he crushes it between his fingers rather than eat it.
* SelfSurgery: Joe removes a loose tooth with a pair of pliers.
* ShellShockedVeteran: Joe has flashbacks to his time overseas. One particular scene haunts him in which he gave candy to a young boy, who was promptly murdered for the candy by another boy.
* SelfSurgery: Joe removes a loose tooth with a pair of pliers.
* ShellShockedVeteran: Joe has flashbacks to his time overseas. One particular scene haunts him in which he gave candy to a young boy, who was promptly murdered for the candy by another boy.
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* TheStoic: Joe is clearly haunted by loads of trauma, but rarely displays overt emotion.
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* AbusiveParents: According to Joe's flashbacks, his father was abusive to him and his mother.
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* DeathSeeker: Joe contemplates suicide several times throughout the film. He also repeatedly asphyxiates himself with plastic bags, something that is implied to be a defense mechanism from his years as an abused child.
* DropTheHammer: Joe uses a ball peen hammer as his WeaponOfChoice. In flashbacks, it's revealed that his father also used this weapon to abuse him and his mother.
* DropTheHammer: Joe uses a ball peen hammer as his WeaponOfChoice. In flashbacks, it's revealed that his father also used this weapon to abuse him and his mother.
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The film won critical acclaim, including Best Screenplay and Best Actor awards as the Cannes Film Festival.
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The film won critical acclaim, including Best Screenplay and Best Actor awards as at the Cannes Film Festival.
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''You Were Never Really Here'' is a 2018 thriller film written and directed by indie auteur Creator/LynneRamsay (''Film/WeNeedToTalkAboutKevin''). It stars Creator/JaoquinPhoenix as a shell-shocked veteran who takes a job rescuing a girl from sexual slavery.
to:
''You Were Never Really Here'' is a 2018 thriller film written and directed by indie auteur Creator/LynneRamsay (''Film/WeNeedToTalkAboutKevin''). It stars Creator/JaoquinPhoenix Creator/JoaquinPhoenix as a shell-shocked veteran who takes a job rescuing a girl from sexual slavery.
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* BeardOfSadness: Joe is haunted by numerous events of trauma in his life and sports a large, wild beard.
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* BeardOfSadness: BeardOfSorrow: Joe is haunted by numerous events of trauma in his life and sports a large, wild beard.
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''You Were Never Really Here'' is a 2018 thriller film written and directed by indie auteur Creator/LynneRamsay (''Film/WeNeedToTalkAboutKevin''). It stars Creator/JaoquinPhoenix as a shell-shocked veteran who takes a job rescuing a girl from sexual slavery.
The film won critical acclaim, including Best Screenplay and Best Actor awards as the Cannes Film Festival.
!!Tropes:
* AlasPoorVillain: A very curious scene has Joe shoot one of the BigBad's thugs and, after a little half-hearted kicking and smacking the dying man for information, he gives him a painkiller, lies down beside him and starts humming an old song with him. The thug even reaches out to hold Joe's hand. All this in spite of [[spoiler:the thug being one of two men responsible for killing Joe's mother. It's implied that Joe is too grieved to sustain any anger at the man]].
* BeardOfSadness: Joe is haunted by numerous events of trauma in his life and sports a large, wild beard.
* CerebusCallBack: In the beginning of the film, Joe thinks his mother is asleep and takes her glasses off, causing her to burst out laughing and reveal that she was fooling him. In the end, [[spoiler:Joe finds his mother murdered and takes her glasses off, one lens shattered by a bullet]].
* DamselInDistress: Nina, the 13-year-old girl who was sold into sexual slavery.
* DamselOutOfDistress: [[spoiler:In the end, Nina kills Governor Williams herself before Joe even gets there]].
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Joe comes home to find that his mother has passed out in front of the television. When he takes her glasses off, she bursts out laughing, announcing that she "got him." This establishes her as someone beyond just a dotering old lady.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: John has a nosebleed and places several wads of tissue stained with blood on his desk. Later, [[spoiler:Joe finds him slumped on his desk in a pool of blood]].
* ImagineSpot: Joe has a number of flashbacks to previous trauma as well as a few hallucinations. In the end, he imagines [[spoiler:shooting himself in the head. A few moments later, the fantasy is gone, and we see that Joe has simply slumped his head on the table]].
* MuggingTheMonster: In a very early scene, Joe establishes his badass credentials by casually headbutting a would-be mugger who attacks him with a blackjack.
* NoNameGiven: Joe's mother is never named.
* PapaWolf: Subverted with Senator Votto, who hired Joe to rescue his daughter and tells him to make her kidnappers hurt. We later find out that [[spoiler:he was the one who sold her into slavery and only now has had a crisis of conscience]].
* ProperlyParanoid: Joe prefers to work through an intermediary and keep his location a secret. He's upset when his handler's son figures out where he lives, which he sees as a security breach. By the midpoint of the film, thugs are after him and use the handler's son to locate Joe's address.
* {{Retirony}}: Implied when the somewhat elderly John talks about how this latest job will allow him to finally take his yacht out of dry dock. [[spoiler:John dies midway through the film]].
* SilenceIsGolden: As per Ramsay's SignatureStyle, there are long stretches of silence in the film as the story is told through visuals rather than dialogue and exposition.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: John likes jelly beans and keeps a bowl of them in his office, which Joe snacks from. When Joe returns, the camera lingers meaningfully on a scattering of jelly beans.
The film won critical acclaim, including Best Screenplay and Best Actor awards as the Cannes Film Festival.
!!Tropes:
* AlasPoorVillain: A very curious scene has Joe shoot one of the BigBad's thugs and, after a little half-hearted kicking and smacking the dying man for information, he gives him a painkiller, lies down beside him and starts humming an old song with him. The thug even reaches out to hold Joe's hand. All this in spite of [[spoiler:the thug being one of two men responsible for killing Joe's mother. It's implied that Joe is too grieved to sustain any anger at the man]].
* BeardOfSadness: Joe is haunted by numerous events of trauma in his life and sports a large, wild beard.
* CerebusCallBack: In the beginning of the film, Joe thinks his mother is asleep and takes her glasses off, causing her to burst out laughing and reveal that she was fooling him. In the end, [[spoiler:Joe finds his mother murdered and takes her glasses off, one lens shattered by a bullet]].
* DamselInDistress: Nina, the 13-year-old girl who was sold into sexual slavery.
* DamselOutOfDistress: [[spoiler:In the end, Nina kills Governor Williams herself before Joe even gets there]].
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Joe comes home to find that his mother has passed out in front of the television. When he takes her glasses off, she bursts out laughing, announcing that she "got him." This establishes her as someone beyond just a dotering old lady.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: John has a nosebleed and places several wads of tissue stained with blood on his desk. Later, [[spoiler:Joe finds him slumped on his desk in a pool of blood]].
* ImagineSpot: Joe has a number of flashbacks to previous trauma as well as a few hallucinations. In the end, he imagines [[spoiler:shooting himself in the head. A few moments later, the fantasy is gone, and we see that Joe has simply slumped his head on the table]].
* MuggingTheMonster: In a very early scene, Joe establishes his badass credentials by casually headbutting a would-be mugger who attacks him with a blackjack.
* NoNameGiven: Joe's mother is never named.
* PapaWolf: Subverted with Senator Votto, who hired Joe to rescue his daughter and tells him to make her kidnappers hurt. We later find out that [[spoiler:he was the one who sold her into slavery and only now has had a crisis of conscience]].
* ProperlyParanoid: Joe prefers to work through an intermediary and keep his location a secret. He's upset when his handler's son figures out where he lives, which he sees as a security breach. By the midpoint of the film, thugs are after him and use the handler's son to locate Joe's address.
* {{Retirony}}: Implied when the somewhat elderly John talks about how this latest job will allow him to finally take his yacht out of dry dock. [[spoiler:John dies midway through the film]].
* SilenceIsGolden: As per Ramsay's SignatureStyle, there are long stretches of silence in the film as the story is told through visuals rather than dialogue and exposition.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: John likes jelly beans and keeps a bowl of them in his office, which Joe snacks from. When Joe returns, the camera lingers meaningfully on a scattering of jelly beans.
