A24’s latest on Paramount+ with Showtime, Beau Is Afraid, comes nearly nine months after its theatrical release, which quickly shut down due to making less than a third of its budget in ticket sales. Though the reviews for the film were not dismal, writer/director Ari Aster attributed the failure to its sheer weirdness, which not enough people went out to see for themselves. Regardless of the factors that caused Beau Is Afraid to bomb, Aster retains his film auteur status for the third time, turning in a bizarre epic worth exploring even if it is his worst film.
‘Beau Is Afraid’ Plot Summary
Beau is a troubled man living in a dystopian city, anxious and lonely, without social skills or the ability to navigate this strange world. His wealthy mother maintains a hold on his mind from afar thanks to a lifetime of imbuing psychosexual trauma on Beau. When he fails to make his intended trip to visit her, weird things start happening that blur the line between reality and hallucination. His journey to make up for his failures as a son takes us through a pathway that the viewer could not possibly predict.
Ari Aster’s A24-Supported Filmmaking Career
Writer/director Ari Aster made waves with shockingly disturbing yet funny short films, using horror and dark comedy to stunning, if often trivial, effect. His full-length debut, Hereditary, changed his image to a filmmaker to pay careful attention to, someone who had instantly mastered the art of modern horror. His name, movies, and distributor became synonymous with the 21st-century horror renaissance, so with Beau Is Afraid, he decided to indulge himself more than ever.
In Beau Is Afraid, Aster received a massive budget compared to his relatively modest first two films, and the excess of his twisted mind makes it worth seeing despite its acquired taste. Recognizable stars giving eye-catching performances, acid trip-level plot points as surreal as any other film and a potent balance of nasty laughs and shock value horror elevate Beau Is Afraid‘s preposterous length and extravagances. Things do not always perfectly connect here, but the wild ride will be the exact niche for adventurous film viewers.
Nathan Lane, Joaquin Phoenix, and Amy Ryan in ‘Beau Is Afraid’
‘Beau Is Afraid’s Triumphs and Failures
Joaquin Phoenix takes the lead next to standout, moving horror performances from Toni Collette in Hereditary and Florence Pugh in Midsommar. Despite his acting prowess, Phoenix’s role in Beau Is Afraid is not up to the standards of those meaningful characters of his past. Beau is mostly a conduit for horrors inflicted upon him, and he reacts with anxiety and terror but without anything to attach the viewer to him. We can pity him as a victim of his mother and his resultingly troubled mind, but otherwise, his adventures play out for laughs and surprise.
Despite a failure to incorporate consequential implications into Beau Is Afraid, the experience is visually stirring and worthwhile up to the end. A drawn-out (and, frankly, ugly) ending does not have the intended power to wrap up Beau’s tale properly, and if you are not in the mood, the surreal humor and plot meanderings will have lost you anyways. Beau Is Afraid will be as freaky, odd, and disturbing as you would expect from Aster’s filmography, and while it does not have the significance to make it one of the greatest films of 2023, it will likely hold the title for weirdest of the year.
Beau Is Afraid is streaming now on Paramount+ with Showtime.
