Joe (Joaquin Phoenix) is a washed-up war veteran in New York, addicted to painkillers, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. He earns his money by freeing women and girls from the hands of human traffickers and prostitution. Even though, in everyday life, he drifts off constantly and is often beside himself, at work the incoming adrenaline brings him back to reality for short bouts of time.

In the midst of an election campaign, he receives the mission to rescue a politician’s daughter from a brothel. But Joe soon becomes the hunted himself, and the situation around him spirals out of control, threatening to take down everyone around him.

Lynne Ramsay (We Need To Talk About Kevin) presents her first film in almost six years. A Beautiful Day is conscious of its genre’s traditions and, possibly because of this, confidently forges its own new path.