Beau Is Afraid

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If you think you've seen it all before, I can with great confidence say that after witnessing indie darling/horror upstart Ari Aster's newest epic Beau is Afraid, you're likely going to come away with a realization that you still had more to behold thanks to one of the most bizarre, self-indulgent, original and unfortunately frustrating movie going experiences of the modern era. Like Synecdoche New York, Being John Malkovich and The Odyssey joined forces in one seriously deranged tale of one man's quest to overcome his mommy issues and finally find peace in a world that seems hellbent on ensuring his life is a living breathing example of misery incarnate, Afraid shares a similar bloodline to Aster's previous two adored horror entries Hereditary and Midsommar but if you head into this indescribable feature expecting the same tone and scares as those two modern day genre classics you're going to be left hugely disappointed by Aster's newest venture, much like many unexpecting audience members will be left with jaws on the floor at what they just partook in. If you've seen the trailers for Afraid (once known as Disappointment Boulevard) you do get a feeling that the journey of Joaquin Phoenix's man-child Beau Wassermann is going to be one that blurs the line between what is real and what is not and there are certainly horrific moments within this tragi-comedy that are like nightmares come to life, especially in an extended early stretch of the film where Beau's life in the big city is hilariously and dementedly portrayed but there's really nothing that can prepare one for where Afraid is heading and how it does so. At it's core a simple tale about a boy/man whose life has been shaped and weighed down by mental issues caused by his upbringing at the hands of his single parent mother, Afraid is never once simply told as Phoenix is thrust into wild situation from wild situation that includes home care under the watchful eye of Nathan Lane and Amy Ryan's irksomely nice couple, a run in with a nomadic theatre troupe and a confrontation with his past, present and future and while everything that happens in Aster's tale is handsomely crafted and sometimes undeniably effective, far too much of Afraid doesn't hit with much of its self-indulgent three hour runtime feeling like a filmmaker allowed to take things too far with little care or thought for how viewers may feel about what they are partaking in. Front and center throughout is also a curiously off the boil performance from the usually great Phoenix. Likely playing things exactly how Aster wanted him too, Phoenix is left a mumbling, bumbling and gawking mess as the 50 something Wassermann and while early on his demeanor and mannerisms are tolerable and even understandable in certain respects, after a few hours Phoenix's turn begins to grate much like the film as a whole and while you lay in hope that Wassermann will shake himself from his pitiful way of life and the film will make everything ok in its final legs, come the films long-winded and unsatisfactory finale (the first time Aster hasn't knocked his ending out of the park) you question more than ever just what on earth Aster was hoping to achieve here? A likely candidate for a future cult classic that at the very least will cause much debate amongst the film community both now and into the future, Afraid still showcases a director we know to be a serious talent but there's far too much at play here that misses to call Afraid anything but a curious and unwieldly misstep that's reason for being is one big mystery. Final Say - Beau is Afraid is at the very least a unique and unpredictable experience but its excessive runtime, painful protagonist and unnecessary components combine to create an often arduous journey that may be expertly put together for the big screen but can't help save an indulgent exercise from its cold and hard to enjoy self. 2 tins of paint out of 5. Jordan and Eddie (The Movie Guys)

If you lived in Beau's world you'd have nightmares all the time, as the characters and encounters round the bend they would entwine, there's confusion and blind panic, just about everyone is manic, and if they're not, they may have tendencies, that would leave you disinclined; as we journey through a life, or are we really on a trip, all heading to a funeral, or are we heading to some ship, where an emperor of metaphor, is exposed, disrobed and stripped, and you may feel, after three hours, you've been part of some grand trick. Bored to tears for the most part, although the performances are great, as you'd expect, but the relevance to me was close to zero and as such, it drowned in its own effluent.

Beau is Afraid is easily the most experimental movie yet directed by the talented filmmaker Ari Aster, as well as another A24 production bet. The film is enjoyable both as surreal, grotesque and unpredictable odyssey and as a true interpretive challenge, in which the viewer is required to make an active effort in understanding the meaning behind the picture. Interesting interpretative key, is that of a journey, not physical but mental, that Beau undertakes in an attempt to emancipate himself from the toxic relationship he has with his mother, in which what we see on the screen is a combination of a psychological journey and the representation of reality as perceived by Beau. To simplify the discussion, one can divide the film into four main sections. In the first, Beau's "starting" psyche, as the beginning of his mental journey, is depicted. The grotesque, cruel, and menacing characters who inhabit Beau's neighborhood are the various representations of his paranoia, fears, and shame, but also of his mind's feeble attempts to "make him wake up" (represented by the notes passed under the doorway of his apartment). It is particularly interesting how, in order to enter his home, these characters wait for Beau to leave the glass door open, which they instead break through to exit the building. This shows how, intrusive thoughts completely dismantle the mind's defenses after managing to penetrate even once, leaving them destroyed to break in again and again, but more and more easily. The second and third parts, that is, the momentary settling of the protagonist first in a new home, and later in a "home that is not a home" (the forest), represent the slow process by which Beau realizes how, building his own satisfying life, his own family, and his own path, implies the need to free himself from the conditioning of his mother, as much as of his cowardice and passivity. The fourth and final part, the confrontation with his mother, leads to Beau's "killing of his mother," but also to his final and total undoing in his eventual inability to defend himself from her "immortal" judgment. For those who are no strangers to mental health issues, the incredible work of writing and staging, and of portraying a fractured psyche, is evident. While the movie does have flaws, including its somewhat exaggerated length, Beau is Afraid is a film that unabashedly discusses and addresses many of the most intrinsic fears of the human soul, exploring yes a sick and co-dependent relationship between mother and son, but also the human terrors that nurtured and engendered it. Even in one of the most grotesque scenes, that of the identification of Beau's "monster in the attic" in the form of a giant, monstrous *, while delirious, is but a nightmarish image of many sad truths inside Beau's heart: his fear of the other is in there, his lack of a father figure is in there, his inability to grow up, his having been emasculated when he was just a child, his mother's obsession with the risk of "being replaced by another woman", his fear of not being allowed to create his own family, his anger, shame, disgust, and guilt, are all represented in that one almost ridiculous and senseless figure. Although it may be a difficult film, and not a particularly commercial one, Ari Aster has managed to create a truly profound, absurd, complex, and unique product, memorable and powerful, and it is fortunate that there are production companies like A24 ready to believe and invest in such projects.

A surrealist tragicomedy (whatever that means) horror (gtfo) "film" that is a whopping 3 hour dystopian nightmare. An absolute heap of trash. One of the worst and horrendous movies of this year. I lost all the respect and belief in Ari Aster's filmmaking prowess after this "movie". This anathema reminds me of Charlie Kaufman's 2020 repugnant vanity project, I'm Thinking of Ending Things. Ari Aster's first misfire after two back-to-back masterpieces. What a shame! A weird, boring, confusing and disturbing film that is "saved" by its stellar production quality, beautiful visuals and cinematography and a perfect selection of songs and music.

Joaquin Phoenix was the main reason I saw this movie and even himself; a great actor, seems mostly lost in a one dimensional unexpressive role. I was never a fan of Ari Aster; HEREDITARY and MIDSOMMER were too long and boring and the "horror" was very little an nothing really that original. What he was trying to do here? Everything Everywhere All at Once was a great complex movie; with difficult but precise logic that gives a very refreshing and welcomed message about families; particularly mothers; and when very deserved OSCARs trophies. Stanley Kubrick EYES WIDE SHUT; did something similar several years ago. In this case; nothing really makes a lot of sense. It is like short stories without a proper ending; the terrifying neighborhood, the PSHYCO killer, the overprotective family, the theater play in the woods and the return to mother's home. All start terrifying but never end in any kind of logic; even worse the inexplicable end. There are lots of rhetoric and frankly boring long moments that if the sound is not good you are going miss a lot (in any case nothing really that interesting); never an explanation of the ridiculous * shaped monster; the imprisoned twins or the amphitheater statement completely different from what we had seen before. In brief; it last three hours (it was supposed to last four an perhaps some things could have been properly defined) but you could do a lot of things better; like seen EVERYTHING EVERWHER ALL AT ONCE that is really a FAR BETTER MOVIE and less pretentious.

If you lived in Beau's world you'd have nightmares all the time, as the characters and encounters round the bend they would entwine, there's confusion and blind panic, just about everyone is manic, and if they're not, they may have tendencies, that would leave you disinclined; as we journey through a life, or are we really on a trip, all heading to a funeral, or are we heading to some ship, where an emperor of metaphor, is exposed, disrobed and stripped, and you may feel, after three hours, you've been part of some grand trick. Bored me to tears for the most part, although the performances are great, as you'd expect, but the relevance to me was close to zero and as such, it drowned in its own effluent.