2017 Cannes Film Festival

When the press screening on Friday evening ended, one part of the audience was roused to cheers, another stood to boo and another not insignificant subset quietly shuffled out the theater unclear just what they had been witness to.

Moreover, whatever they had witnessed might not necessarily be what you do. The film was the last of the 19 main-competition titles to screen in Cannes; Ramsay only delivered this edit the day before yesterday, and the lack of end credits would indicate that there is still work left to do. Amazon Studios owns the rights but have yet to announce a release date. Chances are they will release a slightly different version than the one that screened in Cannes.

Like Robert Pattinson in Palme D’Or competitor Good Time, Phoenix is a world-stopping beauty who’s scraggled up to play an unhinged crim. As good as Pattinson’s performance is, no one is going to say he’s a better actor than Phoenix; but with Good Time he had an absorbing moral drama to act into. Phoenix, especially towards the end, finds himself emoting into thin air, without much by way of story – or, really, other characters – to play off.