Review: Beau is Afraid


Beau (Joaquin Phoenix) is an anxiety ridden man on his way to see his mother, though the world is hellbent against that happening.

Director Ari Aster has a lot of hype riding on this movie. His last two films, Midsommar and Hereditary were received with plenty of acclaim, and the idea of a weird fever dream with Phoenix sounds like a great idea. Sounds

Beau is not only afraid, but he serves no purpose. It's a three hour anxiety attack that's all metaphors and no answers. Every time something resembling a structured plot starts to happen, we take a detour into "weird for the sake of weird" territory. And I expected weird. You can't have seen any of Aster's previous work and assumed that wouldn't be the case, but what I was expecting was everything to at least tie together. The film leaves you on a truly perplexing thought and I was just thankful it was over at that point.

I was not expecting to have such a miserable experience watching this movie. It practically makes a case for streaming vs theater viewings. One woman was on her phone the majority of the time, another group of people were laughing hysterically at everything which started to make me wonder if I just wasn't getting it, and the guy next to me audibly asked "what the fuck is this movie?" multiple times to the point where I wondered if he wanted me to answer him. Even with all these distractions, I still had to fight to keep my eyes open at points where Beau is one one of his weird detours.

As far as filmmaking goes - it is very well made. Phoenix gives a great performance. Parker Posey shows up for 5 minutes and has the most hysterical scene in the entire film and is likely the only reason I didn't fall asleep in the 3rd act.  And that's what frustrates me even more. There are parts of this film that are great but it is so overlong and self-indulgent and it didn't make the viewing worth it.

At one point, the working title for the film was Disappointment Blvd, and boy does that describe my feelings about this perfectly.

Grade: C-

Comments

  1. Replies
    1. Might be the most generous C- I've ever given lol

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  2. I saw the film yesterday (as I'm currently 3/5 done with my review which will be posted later today) as while I liked the film more than you did. Yes, it is a film with some issues and it was also frustrating at times. I think 20 minutes could've been trimmed (though it didn't help that I was drinking water and my bladder is not as strong as it used to be) while there were elements where I was like "goddamnit Beau!" He's a character that constantly apologizes for everything that is wrong and rarely takes action. There were people after the movie that was complaining about it and I was like "what he needed was a goddamn spine" Fuck! He should've shouted "FUCK YOU" at everyone! Fuck.

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    1. Yeah Beau as a character I had no problem with, it's just all the side adventures he ended up going on. I'm glad you liked it more than I did. But never again...I don't even know if I can call myself an Ari Aster fan any more. I'm that annoyed. lol

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  3. Nope..I shall miss this headache. I am not a Phoenix fan because he is just to self involved to be selfless etc... nope, not for me

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    Replies
    1. I'm happy you will never have to experience this lol

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  4. I have almost went and watched it THREE DIFFERENT TIMES. Each time and talked myself out of it. I haven't been much impressed with what I've read on it and I think I'll wait till I'm at home in my comfy recliner.

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    1. You're doing the right thing. Keith. It's bad to watch it in a movie theater not wanting to miss anything while wanting to go to the bathroom.

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    2. I second that. You might fall asleep though, but then at least you can rewind. lol

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