Written by Grady Fiorio
Original Publishing Date: May 23rd, 2023
Rating 2.5/5
Beau is afraid, and I am confused.
Jewish Lord of the Rings. Directly described as such by Ari Aster, the writer, and director of Beau is Afraid, it's a hell of a log line, but what exactly does that mean? Starring Joaquin Phoenix as the titular Beau, Beau is Afraid is the new twisted filmgoing affair from the aforementioned trauma enthusiast, Ari Aster. The film follows Beau's miserable life as he tries to navigate across a nightmare surreal version of our world (Yes, I know it's hard to believe we aren't already living in the nightmare version), to attend his mother's funeral. The catch? Beau is a true-to-heart man-child and momma's boy. He's been smothered, coddled, and abused for so long that he doesn't know how to function outside of her hand. To get to his mother's funeral, Beau will have to travel from hellish cities, disturbed forests, and nightmare dimensions, all while dodging killer psychopaths, and mysterious forces that seem to know Beau a little too well. It's an interesting premise and a great playground for a visionary director like Ari Aster to let loose. Unfortunately, Beau is Afraid isn't greater than the sum of its parts. Its fleeting moments of genius, are smothered between drawn-out sequences of nonsense and oddly timed penis jokes. Seriously, there's a lot more dick and balls than I bargained for. Despite the nonsense, Beau is an experience unmatched. So strap in! This isn't going to be for the faint of heart.
So, Jewish Lord of the Rings? Not exactly, but Beau is a helluva journey. A journey not only for Beau but everyone else in the theater. As an audience member, you're Beau's nonstop punching bag. With the film's runtime clocking in at 3 hours, you definitely feel it. Surprisingly, this abrasive storytelling method initially works, as the film starts incredibly strong. Opening up in a surreal metropolitan hellscape, we see Beau try to live his life and complete the simplest of tasks, all while every disastrous domino falls over. A search for a glass of water quickly turns into Beau's apartment being raided by the homeless and set ablaze, in what is one of the funniest scenes to come out in recent cinema. This is then followed by even more absurdist humor as a naked stabbing cereal killer celebrates his birthday on live television and Beau is trampled by a man stuck in the ceiling while trying to take a bath. This first act culminates in Beau getting hit by a car, sending the rest of the plot into the stratosphere. It's all things that would feel right at home on the Eric Andre Show, and for the film's start, it's great. The second act follows suit with another twisted ride into the bizarre side as Beau spends time with an odd family, that's helping him recover from his car accident. The second act does drag, but it continues to engage despite the continuous questions it raises. However, after the second act wraps and the unconventional act structure becomes apparent, so do the film's issues.
Beau is a four-act film and is severely disjointed because of it. After the second act comes to a close and the second half begins, the film's plotting takes a notable shift and major dip in quality. The shift from the film's first half to its second is so stark, they almost feel like two completely different films. Two films that cannot sustain each other. The first half strikes a great balance of shock, humor, terror, and mystery, while the second is just a collection of nonsensical non-sequiturs (For the sake of spoilers I won't go too deep into detail). It's Ari Aster's Inland Empire meets Southland Tales. It spends so much time trying to outdo itself, that its self-indulgent storytelling ends up consuming whatever plot was left in the script. It gets to the point where the third act feels completely pointless, and the final fourth feels like a desperate attempt to pull the last strings together. The first 90 minutes are like a fat line of cocaine, where everything is fun and seems like a great idea, but the last 90 minutes are the inevitable come down where you realize the consequences of your actions. I can enjoy surreal and abstract filmmaking, but at 3 hours you have to make it worth my time. There is no reason for this film to be this long. It could have easily shaved 45 minutes to an hour off the runtime, and been a much better film because of it. I can't even imagine what the original 4-hour cut Aster pitched, was like. The ironic part is that the more I think about Beau, the more I want to rewatch it. It's a film begging to be rewatched. There's so much detail and thematic material stuffed in each frame that it'd be impossible to catch it all at once. However as irony strikes again, the more I want to rewatch Beau, the more I think about its dreadfully long runtime. Beau is Afraid is its own worst enemy.
"But what about the context of the movie itself? What is this beyond nightmare comedy?" I hear you asking. With so much going on, it took me a full 24 hours to process this film (It probably didn't help that I double-featured this with Evil Dead Rise. By the end, I felt a mounting pressure inside of my head, like I was a kid in an Airheads commercial, ready to fly off into the sun. But at the end of the day, I can only blame that on my film endurance ignorance, so if you somehow find yourself in that oddly specific situation, don't.). My initial reaction was that I hated this movie. Then at times, I found myself oddly fond of it, then back to hating it again. I bounced all across the spectrum. However, once the needle gauge finally balanced itself out, I sat firmly in meh territory. Which if I'm gonna be honest here, really makes me depressed. I love Ari Aster. I think he's one of the boldest and most creative filmmakers working today. While Beau certainly checkmarks both those boxes, it's not cohesive and has very little to say beyond "What's the deal with mommy issues?", with an appropriately cringe-worthy Seinfeld impression. It's a film that tries to say so much, that it says nothing at all. The film gives us more questions than answers, but can't find a way to make us care about those questions in the first place. On the odd chance that it does answer a question, these moments of grand revelation are delegated to penis jokes and monsters (And occasionally, penis monsters. I'm not fucking kidding). The film definitely does have a commentary on sexuality and sexual guilt, but once again it lacks any complexities beyond "mommy issues". I wish I could give you more, but for all the ammo this film gives, it rarely hits a target. Beau is a perfect example of a director doing everything they want to do before asking themselves if it's something they should do. As a director myself, there is something to admire about completely unbridled creative rage, but I more often than not chose to keep that creative mess in my own personal journals and hard drives. If you're going to share it with an audience, it needs to be curated and edited. The only difference between a good and bad artist is their editing process.
For all of Beau's faults, it does have some positives. The production design is Oscar-worthy, and it's the true hero of Beau. The visuals in general are great. The camera work is top-tier and constantly inventive. Combined with the unique lighting setups, Beau will always give you a nice helping of eye candy even when its narrative falls short of substance. Performances are strong as well, even if it's not how we traditionally think of strong acting. The character arcs are questionable, and the script doesn't necessarily give them a lot to do, that being said, everyone is very believable and clearly up to the challenge of always going at 110%. For all of its faults, Beau is a filmmaker's playground that we rarely see these days, and for that I admire it.
Ultimately, Beau is Afraid's beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It'll most likely land in the camp of masterpiece or mess for most of its audience. So surprisingly, even after paragraph after paragraph of my disappointment with this film, I still encourage you to see it. I've said it once and I'll say it again, not enough original films are being made in Hollywood, and if Beau is Afraid is anything, it's original. That's for fucking sure. So go see it! Make up your own mind. Maybe you'll see the genius that I missed out on, or maybe you'll find the movie so far up its ass you'll see it walking around like a donut. I sure as hell know how I felt.
Beau is Afraid
Director Ari Aster
Runtime 2 Hr 59 Min
Format Digital (DCP)
Release Date 2023