Director Watch Podcast Ep. 17 – ‘You Were Never Really There’ (Ramsay, 2018)

Welcome to Director Watch! On this AwardsWatch podcast, co-hosts Ryan McQuade and Jay Ledbetter attempt to breakdown, analyze, and ultimately, get inside the mind of some of cinema’s greatest auteurs. In doing so, they will look at their filmographies, explore what drives them artistically and what makes their decision making process so fascinating. Add in a few silly tangents and a fun game at the end of the episode and you’ve got yourself a podcast we truly hope you love. On episode 17 of the Director Watch Podcast, the boys discuss the last film in their Lynne Ramsay series, You Were Never Really Here (2018).

In her fourth film of her career, Ramsay seemed to change direction back to the style of films she was making before We Need to Talk About Kevin, and strip everything back to a singular focus and tone rather than grander ideas. In doing so, she collaborated with one of Hollywood’s most in demand actors, Joaquin Phoenix, to create a violent, tight neo-noir crime thriller about a mercenary haunted by his past, who is hired to rescue a politician’s daughter who was kidnapped by a human trafficking network. Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival in 2017, Ramsay and Phoenix would go on to win prizes for her screenplay and his fully committed performance as Joe, some of the best work of his celebrated career. Ryan and Jay break down the film, speak briefly about Phoenix’s filmography, the film’s beautiful yet haunting ending, Jonny Greenwood’s subtle score, and give out their rankings of Lynne Ramsay’s small but fascinating body of work.

You can listen to the Director Watch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more.

This podcast runs 1h18m. The guys will be back next week to begin their next series covering the films of Paul Thomas Anderson with a review of his debut film, Hard Eight. You can stream Hard Eight on Pluto TV, as well as rent it via iTunes and Amazon Prime rental in preparation for the next episode of Director Watch. Till then, let’s get into it.

Music: MUSICALIFE, from Pond5 (intro) and “B-3” from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).