You were never really here (4 Stars)

This is the third film in the Stuttgart White Nights Festival.

This is a chilling thriller about an ex-soldier, a hitman for hire. He specialises in retrieving kidnapped children. He's successful in his work, but when he's hired to find a politician's daughter he gets involved in a conspiracy which is over his head.

Joaquin Phoenix received the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for his performance in this film. I can see why. He doesn't play a heartless killer like John Wick, he's a tortured soul who struggles with the ethics of what he does. He wants to do good, even if it involves beating people to death.

Technically, not much happens in the film, but what does happen is astounding. Watch out for it in the Academy Award nominations.