Beau is afraid movie review 2023

“Beau Is Afraid” is a dark comedy written and directed by Ari Aster, known for his trauma-filled horror dramas “Hereditary” and “Midsommar”. The film tells the story of Beau, played by Joaquin Phoenix, who is stuck in a hellish landscape in a downtown neighbourhood defined by violence and madness. Working with production designer Fiona Crombie, Aster captures this sumptuous chaos like Peter Greenaway did long dining tables in “The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover.” The world-building for Beau is like a furious overture of the towering anxieties we’ll see later in present-time and in flashback: a lack of personal space, the threat of being unable to please others, and the impossibility of rampant bad luck.

Phoenix's performance is central to the movie. He embodies Beau, who is doomed from birth and barely making it in this hellish world. Phoenix makes his mouth tiny as if he were still suckling, and his voice intensely frail. His character will prove to be far too innocent for this world, and the story that unfolds is Beau’s nightmare and his destiny.

Aster's dark humour shines through the movie, with a rhythm of dread that the movie is not precious about keeping. The most daunting moments in Beau’s life are his phone calls from his mother, Mona Wassermann, played with exquisite venom by Patti LuPone. The mega-successful Mona creates immense, unsettling tension by making Beau feel even smaller. Aster’s gutting dialogue shines (“I trust you’ll do the right thing,” says Mom). The guilt, shame, and humiliation, it’s all packed into a phone call after he accidentally misses his flight to see her (it’s a long story).

“Beau Is Afraid” is told in chapters of various length and tone, in which Beau experiences a fluctuating sense of security. After a meltdown that has him screaming and running naked in the streets, Beau finds himself severely injured and under the care of two parents in the suburbs, played by Nathan Lane and Amy Ryan. They cover their own pain with just enough smiles as they care for him and feed him pills. Beau needs to go see his mother, and they’ll help him do that tomorrow. Beau has become a type of replacement son for their departed soldier boy Nathan and finds a new enemy in Toni, played by Kylie Rogers, who is pissed about this weird guy sleeping in her rainbow-colored bedroom.

Midway through the film, “Beau Is Afraid” takes a turn into stop-motion animation, directed by Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña (“The Wolf House”). It’s a movie-within-a-movie that has “Beau Is Afraid” touching upon sentimental, hallucinatory, poetic pieces of its complicated headspace and complements its other moments of uncanniness. The sequence adds to the movie’s severely irregular rhythms.

In conclusion, “Beau Is Afraid” is a dark, funny, and surreal movie that showcases Joaquin Phoenix’s excellent performance. The world-building for Beau is detailed and awe-inspiring, and the film's rhythm of dread keeps the viewer engaged. The movie's dark humour is at its best with Patti LuPone’s excellent performance as Mona Wassermann. The stop-motion sequence adds to the movie's already irregular rhythms and complements its other moments of uncanniness. All in all, this movie is a must-watch for those who enjoy dark comedies with a surreal touch.

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A paranoid man sets out on a journey to reach his mother in a new and daring film from the brilliant mind of writer and director Ari Aster. The film is a mix of comedy, drama, and horror, with a rating of R due to its explicit language, graphic nudity, drug use, sexual content, and strong violent content. The film is entirely in English and has a runtime of nearly three hours. It is produced by Ari Aster and Lars Knudsen and distributed by A24, with Square Peg, IPR.VC, and Access Industries serving as production companies. The film's sound mix is in Dolby Digital, and the aspect ratio is flat at 1.85:1. Get ready to be captivated by this uniquely crafted film that will leave you questioning your own sanity.