By Seth Lukas Hynes
Beau is Afraid
Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Patti LuPone and Nathan Lane
Rated R18+
3.25/5
Beau is Afraid is a severe misstep from horror auteur Ari Aster.
Beau (Joaquin Phoenix), a sensitive, anxious man, embarks on a long, bizarre journey to attend his mother’s funeral.
More of a surreal drama than Aster’s previous films – Hereditary and Midsommar are two of the best horror films of the past ten years – Beau is Afraid has several engaging or touching threads. A surgeon’s compassion takes on sinister undertones; a beautifully-animated vision of love and loss in Beau’s possible future; a warm welcome from a travelling theatre group is cut violently short. Aster still shows a strong command of potent visuals, and Phoenix is an endearing, tragic lead.
Beau is Afraid’s episodic narrative draws you in at times, but the overall film pushes you away with muddled themes, jarring tones and an elusive point.
Surrealism often needs a baseline of “normal” for the surreality to carry full impact; Beau is Afraid has no baseline, as it begins with brutal absurdity and never settles down. The film flirts with and discards themes of mental illness, as Beau’s trauma is all external. The animated sequence – a play that finds a life of its own in Beau’s imagination– serves only to seed a ludicrous reveal later on. Beau’s charge of selfishness seems unfair – he appears unwaveringly selfless – so the maudlin, mean-spirited climax, featuring motherly contempt, conspiracy, a secret monster and a trial evocative of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil, is aggressively unpleasant for little purpose.
Hereditary and Midsommar are profoundly messed-up movies with a defined purpose and substantive themes, but Beau is Afraid’s thesis is the title: Aster tormenting his protagonist for three hours.
An overindulgent, unfocused drama that aims for dark whimsy but comes off as spiteful, Beau is Afraid is playing in select Victorian cinemas.
– Seth Lukas Hynes
