While hardly a definition, many people have described insanity with the old bon mot, “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” In the second scene of Beau Is Afraid, the adult version of its titular character (Joaquin Phoenix, Joker) meets with his therapist (Stephen McKinley Henderson, Dune), who asks Beau: If you were ever thirsty and drank from a well that then poisoned you, would you return to the same well in the future, expecting a different outcome?
One could argue that the whole idea of “insanity” is the basis of the rest of Beau Is Afraid, a head-scratching, emotionally wrenching odyssey that may cause walkouts by moviegoers during its theatrical run. Other reviews of A24’s new film are in, and the film is certainly divisive thus far. Remember when Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life hit theaters back in 2011, and theaters across the U.S. posted signs saying “No refunds” for the folks who bought their tickets and simply couldn’t see it through?
To be fair — in the IMAX theater where I saw Beau Is Afraid, some of the walkouts I witnessed eventually returned to their seats. Did we mention Ari Aster‘s new film is three hours long? Sometimes, you just need a bathroom break. Such a long duration seems to be the norm with high-profile films these days — we’re looking at you, John Wick: Chapter 4, The Batman, Avatar: The Way of Water, Babylon, and more. But back to Beau Is Afraid, which is a valiant and utterly unique effort, but ultimately can’t live up to the more accessible recent gems from Aster, Hereditary and Midsommar (though few films could). Here’s our take.
An Anxiety-Riddled Journey Into the Unknown
There’s no denying that the film is an adventurous epic by the visionary Ari Aster. The opening sequence will quickly have you double-checking that you’re in the right theater. A childbirth simulation is how Aster starts Beau Is Afraid, foreshadowing how the rest of the film is centered around a mother-son connection. Then the title card comes on, and you breathe a sigh of relief that you didn’t accidentally walk into The Super Mario Bros. Movie playing next door.
What strings would you pull to get your child to come home and pay you a visit? At the end of the day, Aster’s film here is really just Beau trying to get home to his mother. But before the harrowing journey — which features Beau getting kidnapped by an absurd family (led by Nathan Lane and Amy Ryan) and meeting a fourth-wall-breaking traveling theater group — we see Beau living alone in a downtown apartment building where every moment is a waking nightmare. And prior to his imminent journey to visit his mother (Patti LuPone), mayhem ensues on the eve of Beau’s departure in a series of darkly hilarious worst-case-scenarios, spinning his life in a surreal new direction.
“Beau is someone whose development has been seriously arrested,” Aster said in a statement to A24. “There’s a lot inside of him that hasn’t been resolved or isn’t understood by him. He’s crippled by anxiety, trapped in himself, and is basically suspended in an adolescent-like state.”
Beau Is Afraid Displays Ari Aster’s Great Talent
A24
Aster takes great care to make every detail count in his mise-en-scène. Folks in my theater experience were laughing out loud during countless static wide shots throughout the film, where Aster leaves you time to read the hilariously dark signs posted on the streets around Beau, as well as the headlines of the absurdist newspapers and TVs that characters are reading and watching. The film a visual treat in every way, and is worth a ticket for that alone. Aster’s direction is immaculate in that way.
“Ari is a great person to work with because he knows how to talk to the actor and collaborate to get the best acting out of them,” teenage Beau actor Armen Nahapetian recently told MovieWeb. “I was able to express myself freely, which was great. He affected the whole project and everyone surrounding it. Everyone was extremely kind. And it really created, like I said, an amazing environment for me to act in, so it means a lot.”
Related: 8 Movies to Watch Before Watching Ari Aster’s Beau Is Afraid
Dissecting a Closed-Off Protagonist
A24
Fans of Homer’s The Odyssey will certainly appreciate Beau’s journey. It has also been compared to something out of a Franz Kafka novel, which are known to fuse elements of dark realism and the fantastic. It’s deserving of that lineage; Beau Is Afraid is an intimate dissection of its anxious protagonist, a character study about an unlived life, a hero’s journey for a man whose disposition is quite unsuited to the trials and challenges of dealing with his surroundings.
It becomes clear over the three hours that Aster’s third feature is a darkly comic epic that feels both sharply contemporary and as old as time. But the end result will continue to polarize viewers for years to come, one imagines — though it wouldn’t be surprising if film professors choose to show certain excerpts in their classes one day…
And speaking of dark comedy — that whole aforementioned kidnapping scene, which occupies much of the second act, will send you swirling through a range of emotions and reactions: cringe, laughter, terror, etc. Nathan Lane and Amy Ryan are world-class actors, and interestingly enough, their high-intensity performances here bring to mind past Darren Aronofsky films, including Black Swan, The Whale, and even Mother! (no pun intended). Even Wes Anderson comes to mind in the way certain scenes embrace artifice and with some of its comedic edge.
Why You Should Watch Beau Is Afraid
A24
The theme of motherhood seems to be a common thread through all of Aster’s features thus far. In Midsommar and Hereditary, the characters played by Florence Pugh and Toni Colette are each running away from family traumas that have left them motherless. It’s an interesting turn of events that in Aster’s new film, Beau has plenty of mother in his life — and then some.
Played to perfection by Patti LuPone, mother Mona is overbearing, highly successful, and deeply invested in her son’s interior life from a great distance. Both before and after you experience her wrath in the third act, however, you’ll be graced with fun cameos by other acting greats, such as Parker Posey, Richard Kind, and even Bill Hader. These entertaining little additions help compensate for the fact that you may be left confused more often than not throughout Beau Is Afraid.
We won’t give away too much about “how it ends” other than how a faux court scene in those final moments seems to swallow the rest of the movie whole. If nothing else, go see Aster’s new film so that you can argue with your film-buff friends about what it all really meant. Also, see it for Joaquin Phoenix’s utterly dedicated performance. It’s subdued but awards-caliber stuff from the Walk the Line actor, and we can’t wait to see Phoenix in Joker: Folie a Deux. But in the meantime — from A24, Beau Is Afraid is now in theaters, with a wider release on April 21st.
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