Beau is afraid

Spoiler free.

Published: 19/05/2023

Beau Is Afraid is a confusing, bizarre, stress and anxiety inducing rollercoaster of plots, emotions, and performances. Ari Aster’s third feature film is finally here and it follows an odyssey of an anxious and extremely paranoid man, Beau, trying to travel to visit his Mother. Unexpectedly plans soon change to travel to his Mother’s funeral which is only the beginning of the train of bizarre and tragic events that soon occur to Beau throughout the film.

Originally, an idea of a short film directed by Aster in 2011 with a similar title of Beau having a run time of just under seven minutes. Of course with the run time the plot is far more contained and is actually contained to just Beau’s apartment. I think with his budget and resources at the time actually aided the story of Beau, as with Beau Is Afraid the plot runs away with it self to the point of it being less effective than Beau.

Although, as a film I enjoy Beau more, Beau Is Afraid does depict generational trauma and paranoia in an intense way that successfully translates into the audiences experience with many scenes to note, anxiety inducing.

I come out the cinema with a slight headache unable to pin point whether it be from the hard to follow metaphorical plot points or having to sit through what I believe to be an unnecessary extra half hour of film.

While A24 and Ari Aster as partners have did nothing but serve great effective stories in the past, Beau Is Afraid feels like the representation of A24 letting Aster as he’s growing now walk himself to and from school without the supervision of the studio.

The plot with potential to reach larger audiences if Aster had not made the film for himself. While that’s not always a bad thing a directors art will always be for themself in the end and that’s how it should be, Aster has gone so far to make it hard to fully enjoy and understand if you’re anyone but himself which is a bold move to make when it’s a film funded by millions of dollars. To fully understand the hidden depths of the film you either need to be much smarter than myself or have the commentary of Aster going along with it.

Aster’s attempt at emerging into comedy in areas of the film I feel takes away from the technicals of psychological thrill that he has done incredibly effective in the past with his first partnership with A24, Hereditary in 2018 and then Midsommar in 2019 which both gained large popularity in horror and modern horror fans alike. The familiar theme of abusive and toxic Mother’s also follows from his past projects to this one with Patti LuPone in the role, which is arguably the antagonist of the film if it not Beau (Joaquin Phoneix) himself.

With Toni Collette passing the torch to Florence Pugh, Pugh now passing to Joaquin Phoenix to lead Aster’s newest project. I think it’s safe to say that the strongest element of this film was Phoenix’s performance. His performance being the key tell in the majority of the film, it is Phoenix that grounds the film in it’s scenes that get away from themselves

Aster’s newest disturbing psychological horror leaves you anxious and confused with many questions… arguably too many. I respect the act of making your films for no one but yourself, Ari Aster you’re braver than me.

Letterboxd Review on Beau Is Afraid

Beau Is Afraid, dir. Ari Aster

Release: 14 April 2023

Uk release: 19 May 2023

Lara Edwards.