Running time: 179 minutes
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Patti LuPone, Amy Ryan, Parker Posey, Nathan Lane, Stephen McKinley Henderson
Directed by: Ari Aster
The story: A paranoid man tries desperately to get home to his mother, but events keep conspiring against him.
The verdict: We all know that Ari Aster can do reasonably straightforward messed up (Hereditary, Midsommar) and now here he is proving that he can also do surrealist messed up. Anyway, deep breath and here we go…
The first act of Beau is Afraid is probably one of the most scarily apt depictions of what it is like to live with anxiety that I have ever seen on film. At this point the film is a bit surreal and a bit weird but in a clever and intriguing way and I had high hopes.
However as the film carries on, that measure of hope got smaller and smaller until it was all but gone. Now at this point I should probably point out three things. Firstly, I am an Ari Aster fan. I thought Hereditary and Midsommar were absolutely horrifying but also kind of brilliant and I even named Midsommar as my film of the year in 2019. I should also point out that I’m certainly not adverse to, for want of a better word, ‘weird’ films. And finally I loved the idea of an epic film inspired by The Odyssey. But Beau is Afraid is another kettle of fish entirely.
It wasn’t so much the oddity and surrealist aspects of the film that alienated me. Yes, Beau is Afraid is bizarre and at times even grotesque but the cinematic universe would be incredibly boring if all films were the same. After all, a little bit of “what the hell?!” muttered during a film never hurt anyone right?
Rather it was the absolute agglomeration of ideas and themes that started to turn me off the film. Beau is Afraid feels like every insane thought Aster has ever had shoved into one film with no filter and no forethought. The result is a film that goes from brilliantly absurd to frustratingly incoherent. Whereas the first part of the film felt like Aster had reached new heights as a director in an amazingly immersive and compelling world, subsequent scenes feel like a coin toss between whether they would be exciting and engaging or just eye rolling.
If Beau is Afraid had been ninety minutes or so then I could have forgiven some of the word vomit-esque nature of the film. But Beau is Afraid is a long film and I felt those three hours. I don’t believe in time checking during a film because I think it takes you out of the film, but I have to admit that there were several times during Beau is Afraid when I desperately wanted to see how much longer was left. I would say that I liked the first hour of the film but of course then I was still left with two hours to go.
As you can see by the above, I struggled with Beau is Afraid. However, it is important to highlight that, whilst I didn’t particularly enjoy the film, I did mightily respect it. Aster’s work in this case may not have appealed to me but I do find his auteurism impressive. I am glad that films like this, where directors are given carte blanche, are being made and finding an audience. I do like to be challenged by films, but in this case I was more frustrated than challenged. In spite of this, I will await Aster’s next film with baited breath.
The rating: ⭐️⭐️ and a half stars.
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