Film Review – Beau Is Afraid (2023)
There perhaps isn’t a hotter new American director plying his trade in the cinematic landscape right now than Ari Aster. Born in the 1980s and admitting his first film experience, Warren Beatty‘s Dick Tracy, left an indelible mark, he is a self-confessed horror aficionado and, as such, that’s where his career got its big break. With a few short films under his belt, it was his explosive debut with 2018’s Hereditary which stunned audiences and became a worldwide hit, followed swiftly a year later with Midsommar, arguably his best film to date which also had horror leanings, as well as being another sizable success. Such has been his impact that Martin Scorsese has called him “one of the most extraordinary new voices in cinema” and it’s easy to see why the legendary filmmaker has taken a shine to him.
Indeed, while they were very scary on the surface it was what was underneath them that made them so memorable and REALLY disturbing: both films managed to please the ever-growing horror community with their shocks but Aster, like many others (Robert Eggers, Jordan Peele, Nia DaCosta to name a few), has brilliantly used the genre to explore deep themes of loss, grief, toxic masculinity, generational trauma, family dysfunction, and mental health. But neither of those two films, no matter how powerful, transformative, or, of course, traumatic, can prepare you for his third film, Beau Is Afraid. From its first-look images to its haunting trailers, the film had already begun to divide opinion before it was unleashed in front of audiences and critics and, thus far, it hasn’t shown any sign of changing that course.
The lure of anything with Joaquin Phoenix in is usually too hard to ignore but this might be one of the first times where it doesn’t quite have that power for Aster’s new film is a cavalcade of the outlandish, the nightmarish, and the unequivocally maniacal which mixes comedy and horror and doesn’t know when one stops and the other begins. It continues down a seemingly never-ending rabbit hole of surreal, exhausting, baffling images, stories and themes that almost feels like it will buckle under the weight of its excess and audacity. You have to admire the director shooting for the stars and beyond in his third film but, much like James Gray, Damien Chazelle and even Steven Spielberg have found recently, the “personal” film just doesn’t connect and, perhaps, they should have been asked to rein in their unique yet detached visions that just don’t land.
Delving into the psyche of a man – the titular Beau (Phoenix) – who is battling his inner demons of depression, anxiety, and existential crisis whilst trying to make his way home after the sudden death of his mother (Patti LuPone), the film soon becomes something of his odyssey, his own journey back home whilst trying to navigate the real world and the world inside his head that has been overshadowed by his own inner crises. Said journey, of course, isn’t as straightforward as you might think and sees Phoenix fight his way through injuries, a strange family who have taken him in (led by husband and wife Nathan Lane and Amy Ryan), a dreamlike quest through the woods and negotiating the truth about his absent father, assumed dead, that’s as terrifying and barmy as anything Aster does.
All sounds like a non-recommendation, right? Well, yes and no. No matter how you approach this one it will test you, your tastes, and your patience and will certainly not be for everyone. Aster throws everything at this one and, for anybody who suffers from anxiety in particular, some of what he is trying to convey actually does penetrate and create something very close to the terror and overwhelming nature of its power and for that, he deserves a lot of credit. But, ultimately, this is all just too much, even with its long three-hour runtime (itself a deterrent for many, we’re sure) it feels overwhelming and its kamikaze, surreal, bizarre story and visuals will no doubt spark debate as to whether it’s a work of genius or the work of a nutcase. Take the journey, but be warned.
★★
Horror, Comedy | 2023 | Sony Pictures Releasing UK, A24 | In cinemas May 19th | Dir: Ari Aster | Joaquin Phoenix, Nathan Lane, Amy Ryan, Patti Lupone, Zoe Lister-Jones, Richard Kind, Hayley Squires
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