Lynne Ramsey directs Joaquin Phoenix, Ekaterina Samsonov and Judith Anna Roberts in the neo-noir where an Iraq vet works as a gun for hire, tracking down missing teens and exacting “brutal” vengeance on their abusers.

An unmissable mood piece funnelled through the eyes of a broken vigilante, this is the unkempt son of Taxi Driver, the New York cousin of Drive and the arthouse bastard of Taken. Ramsey finds her beauty in the grimness, Phoenix gets physical in a near-silent turn with a mundane exactness, Johnny Greenwood’s schizophrenic score pushes us stumbling down fire escapes we don’t want to be on. Do you really want to know more before watching?

8