Boy, I wanted to love this. The first hour and a half to two hours are amazing, 4.5 / 5. But boy does this film crash hard. The final act (or final two parts) are extremely weak. This film is an hour too long, and often there are shots that go for too long. I'm all for long shots but they are done too often here and don't add anything.
As good as Phoenix is, the script is really poor for his character and by the end, he achieves nothing.
"I'm not asking you to leave, I'm asking you to fucking drink this fucking paint with me."
There was some stuff in here that I really liked, but considering it was a 3-hour movie, there simply wasn't enough stuff that I liked for me to rate this highly. I spent most of the runtime uninterested and bored with what was going on.
a movie so soaked in metaphors that it loses its main idea
Me after 30 minutes: If Ari Aster's goal was to make me uncomfortable, he's certainly succeeding.
Me after 2.5 hours: I don't mind long movies, but this is exhausting.
Me after 3 hours: That penis monster was the worst thing I've ever seen.
Edit: After seeing that Ari Aster called this a "Jewish Lord of the Rings", I'm tempted to lower my rating. I don't think he understands Judaism or The Lord of the Rings. (Written as a Jew myself.)
Sure, Judaism is associated with neuroticism and guilt, and LOTR is an epic journey. But at the essence of each of them is hope -- something this movie completely lacks. Even when Beau finally confronts and kills his mother, there is no redemption -- he is once again destroyed by her.
"Everything I Own" by Bread is a great song, though. So at least there's that...
After 3 hours, I don't know what I've seen.
One man's journey into madness as he battles paranoia, anxiety, major mommy issues, guilt, childhood trauma, fear, mania... Beau Is Afraid is basically 100 symbolisms and metaphors per minute, to the point where I don't believe anyone can really decipher it fully (except for Ari Aster himself). The narrative is dense and goes into the convoluted and abstract territory but it's incredibly ambicious. Too ambicious? I support Aster for not being afraid and doing something unique and different but this was a bit too much for me. It throws A LOT of ridiculous and weird stuff at you but I feel like most of it is there just to be weird, it doesn't have purpose, it just bloats the runtime and confuses the viewer for no apparent reason. It's an endless loop of crazyness and it gets repetitive and frustrating after three hours (felt like five hours). I couldn't wait for it to be over and I came out of the theater exhausted. The final part is also the least interesting. An extremely long movie for such a small statement and it didn't make me feel much at the end. It probably needs a few rewatches for me to get everything but i'm not sure this deserves another three hours of my life.
Beau-tiful cinematography and visuals, pitch black humor, great attention to detail in every frame, some deeply uncomfortable and disturbing moments, loved every set piece and Joaquin Phoenix is the best thing about this. His performance is what makes the weird and ridiculous pass in a lot of the scenes and keeps the viewer interested. Patti LuPone stole the spotlight when she shows up she was amazing.
A hard one to give a rating to, i'm not sure I can do it. I'll think about it but right now, i'm afraid! (Edit: it's a 6/10)
I'm just confused. It all makes sense in some way, but I'm just so confused. I'm getting confused writing this. What even is this? Who? Beau? Too confusing. Oh yeah, and it was too long. Way too long.
Not really plot or character driven, this is more like one of those emotional rollercoaster/experiential type of movies. Think Gravity, where it’s less about the plot or Sandra Bullock and more about experiencing anxiety in space for 90 minutes. This plays with similar emotions, but with Ari Aster behind the camera there’s a stronger focus on subjective filmmaking and surrealism. The entire film is a unique, comedic nightmare. Unfortunately I think it’s also quite easily Aster’s worst film to date. To start off, it simply doesn’t have enough meat on the bones to keep the viewer engaged for the entire runtime, too often does it fall back to the same bag of tricks whenever we go into panic mode (e.g. people yelling, absurdist imagery, match cuts, dark comedy). I won’t say that it wasn’t effective or memorable, but it should’ve been condensed to the best moments. Moreover, it’s unable to carry itself with the characters or story. I found Beau to be a poorly developed protagonist, it’s hard to connect with him due the lack of detail in the writing and one-note performance by Phoenix. He’s a representation of an idea, and because of that he feels more like a type than a character. The bigger picture that the movie gets at is somewhat interesting, but like Midsommar, it could’ve dug a little deeper with its ideas (especially given its runtime). It doesn’t comment on social anxiety or paranoia in any way that’s particularly mindblowing, if anything it feels like a surface level exploration of its causes and effects. I think the movie is truly at its best when it’s simply Aster playing the viewer like a violin, the most interesting scenes here are constructed like a maze of emotions. Thankfully there’s more than enough of that, but like already mentioned, it’s not enough to carry a 3 hour movie. Aster continues to be a great filmmaking talent (excellent cinematography & editing, interesting sound design), but he needs a creative partner to reign himself in.
5/10
A pile of steaming hot garbage film. Never expected this from Aster. The fuck?
The odyssey of a spineless middle-aged loser who must traverse oceans and mountains to visit his overbearing mother. The journey is embellished with reimagined childhood traumas and moments of surreal comedy that could only be described as grotesque. Initially, it feels like plunging into a world seen through the eyes of someone plagued by pathological anxiety. However, as the narrative unfolds, there’s a progressive shift towards pure psychoanalytic delirium rich in symbolic elements.
While the formula succeeds in entertaining and captivating for the majority of its duration, the overall result leaves an impression of having been assembled in a somewhat disorderly and redundant manner. This approach seems to prioritize the director's self-indulgence and pretentiousness over the coherence of the storytelling.
In brief, it's an incredibly amusing and thought-provoking auteur spectacle, displaying remarkable audacity within contemporary cinema. Yet, its potential could have been elevated further with a better sense of restraint and cohesiveness.
Since no one has mentioned it before, I find it quite challenging to watch this movie for the first time. When the film ended, I sat for a while, attempting to piece everything together. Subsequently, I decided to watch it again, and now, a week later, I'm in the midst of my third viewing. Each time I watch it, I uncover new horrors and torments in different scenes.
The movie boasts an immense density of information. Beau's psychosis is portrayed with astonishing realism. For those who have never experienced profound anxiety or lived through a psychosis, it may be difficult to grasp just how brilliantly it is depicted. The mother's influence permeates every aspect of Beau's life; he can never escape it.
Joaquin is brilliant as usual.
In my opinion, this film is a true masterpiece.
Bill Hader was the UPS guy that found the Corpse! Was Barry Berkman involved!?! :joy:
Wow, so much going on in this movie that many people will find much of it confusing and boring. I think this movie portrays the idea of anxiety very well while some parts of this movie make absolutely no sense, but I did find it entertaining.
Jeez... That was weird.
The first act it's just plain weird and uncomfortable up until Beau escapes from the doctor and his wife , the second act was way better, the play scene was beautiful; the last act was glorious.
I don't intend to watch it ever again for my own mental health, nor would I recommend the movie to anyone. But if you happen to come across with it, I won't advise you to not watch it either, just be aware that when the movie ended, a couple behind me went: "Are you ok?" "No".
I think the right thing to say about this movie is: PATTI LUPONE SUPREMACY. JUST MAKE HER AN EGOT ALREADY.
Narratively, this is a bit of a slog and overindulgent. Good acting and a few deliriously weird moments elevate this to something that can still be considered worthwhile.
I’ve been putting this movie off considering it’s about 3 hours long, but I as time went by, and people continue to talk about it, I finally watched it. It’s definitely a dark comedy, and it can definitely be a hard movie to make sense of, but just remember it’s very symbolic, and once you hear some YouTube breakdowns of the movie, it really is a deep movie in a psychological way, and really does a good job at displaying human behavior based off of past events and having PTSD.
Weird, indulgent, chaotic and wild. If that's for you? Buckle up. I'm giving it a 7.3. My wife gave it a 2. Lol, it's going to be wildly divisive. Some people have bad trips and others have great ones while on the same stuff. That's this movie in a nutshell. Kudos to Phoenix. Great stuff.
Strikes me as one of those movies in an auteur's filmography that the majority agree is one of his weaker films yet one of his most important.
The ending is so fucking meta, and the whole film seems to touch on how Ari's films are received by the public and the creative journey behind making one but it's SO EARLY in his career for him to do this shit! This is usually a director's tenth film or so.
Just unbelievable, oh and did I mention it's genuinely one of the STRANGEST movies I've ever seen too.
"HELP MEEEE!"
Me creating plots in my dreams.
I don't mind its abstract nature and the parabolic script BUT the 3/4 of the movie is actively trying to NOT make any sense. I'm all for mysteries and decoding but that was just self-indulgent mental masturbation. So 6.5/10 cuz the writer tried to make himself seem smarter than he is.
I thought this was pretty dope. It felt like you was seeing it from a person who has mad anxiety and his mom seemed pretty controlling, his awkwardness and anxiety didn't make things better. He didn't want to be around her so much that he moved to a terrible area just to live alone and when he is forced to actually leave his place to go see his mom, he had to face reality. He needed help from the beginning but it seems to be shakey. I seen this about 3 times :joy: I seem to see different things each time. Worth a watch
An odyssey into a man's anxiety, mania and psychosis that stem from the formative experiences of his childhood. Layered, frantic, almost impenetrably overwhelming but somehow still humorous at times; much like Ari's entire body of work, this one is going to take analysis, multiple viewings and many Reddit threads (if it still exists) to parse everything this movie is attempting to put down, but I think from my initial viewing I got a lot from it already. I'm giving it time to breathe and formulate in my head, but it is of a much different tone to that of Hereditary and Midsommar; I'd even class it as possibly a completely different genre than his previous two works. There are still splashes of trademark Aster in here, but you might be disappointed if you're expecting it to be of the same tone and pitch as his previous works. Is it too long? Debatable, the length adds to the insanity and absurdity of the plot. I think the movie is more struggling from a clear scope coming into view at the right time to feel satisfying and complete to most viewers. If you’re up for some analysis and you’re willing to open your mind to this absolute, scattershot, insanity-on-film epic, I think you’ll be deftly rewarded. I know I’m having a blast trying to understand every part that I remember right now.
—
:rotating_light::rotating_light::rotating_light: SPOILERS BELOW, PLEASE DON'T READ UNTIL YOU'VE FINISHED THE MOVIE:rotating_light::rotating_light::rotating_light:
To interpret some of the harder scenes, let me jot down what I took away from them and see if it makes any sense:
The opening where everything is going wrong is a scattershot of daily anxieties that, as an anxiety sufferer myself, I've experienced first hand. The spider above the bath is visualised as a literal home invader, hanging above the bath ready to drop on you when you least expect it.
Anxiety about taking medication wrong, or taking too much, or not the right way, or with the right or wrong amount of water. Or no water at all.
Your card getting rejected during a simple transaction and the embarrassment that ensues. This is also coupled with the feeling when you're short for time and everything starts taking much longer to complete.
The worry about whether you locked your door or not. Catastrophising losing your keys, leaping from the plausible argument that you just misplaced them, to a whole story about a duo of would-be criminals using them to enter your home, trash the place and steal your belongings, all while letting the entire neighbourhood in to party and squat.
Worrying about being too loud and causing a bother to those around you. Beau is being completely silent but the neighbours are adamant that he's being far too loud.
Agoraphobic feelings about going outside, approached by strangers, everything seeming much worse than it actually is. This is visualised by literal dead bodies being left in the street, murderers opening roaming the streets naked with their weapon of choice, the police immediately escalating to violence with no just cause. The opening really is a frantic masterpiece of visualised anxiety.
The play-in-the-forest is the usual "dream life" scenario that most straight men envision as they're growing up. Finding your calling, finding your life companion, finding your forever home, settling down, having children and growing old to watch them succeed. Beaus own insecurities bleed into this towards the end when they're ripped away from him, or maybe this is an analogy to them leaving home and beginning their own journey? Beau pays his last dollar to see them again before the journey ends, maybe comparable to living out his final days in retirement until he's broke to see his kids one last time. This "dream" is further squashed by the lie his mother has told him his entire life about his fathers demise, and how the same fate shall befall him if he is to pursue the same ends.
The Beau in the attic was the masculine, headstrong, confident part of himself that had been locked away by his mothers controlling, abusive (and maybe molestation?) behaviour. She constantly stifled any autonomy and freedom that he had, resulting in the cowardly, submissive Beau that we see throughout the movie.
The extent of his mothers control is, on reflection, felt throughout the entire movie when we realise that the food he eats, the apartment he lives in, the therapist he sees, the people he meets all seem to be part of the company his mother owns: MW Industries. Whether this is metaphorical or literal is up to the viewer, but it hammers home the central point that Beau has a seriously controlling and abusive matriarchal figure in his life that completely destroyed any growth or relationships he may have pursued, leading to the shell of a man we see throughout the movie.
I’m sure there is much more but I don’t think I’m quite ready for another 3 hour viewing of this behemoth for a good few months.
It was like a 3 hour long fever dream put to film... Beautiful movie and well acted.
"Synecdoche New York" & "I'm Thinking of Ending Things" does it better but still i enjoyed the trip - The movie could have been wrapped up in a couple of hours with a bit of self editing but then again we are dealing with chaotic & scattered minds and no doubt self control does not come into the picture.. I would love to have seen a couple of shots later in the film of Beau returning to his apartment with the street looking picturesque, like he has been living in the most beautiful part of town but the chaos the audience sees is the anxiety in Beau's head..i think that would have worked better....or did he really live in that street...who knows
It's Ari's therapy session and we are all paying for it.
I don’t think a film has made me say “what the fuck is going on” so much
It began so well... I can't believe what happened it the third act.
Joaquin Phoenix is an amazing actor, and this movie is no exception. He is brilliant in every sequence. The plot was interesting at the beginning: I didn't know if I was seeing everything from his optic or it was real. I think it was a mix of both. All the madness was very interesting. But from the forest on I lost interest, I think it was too much, not so much related with the main story. And the end was completely confusing.
Beau isn't the only one who's afraid. I'm afraid this wasn't very good.
Beau is Afraid is like the State Fair Haunted House ride at 4am: obscure, not very accessible and not very scary.
This was just too much movie for Aster, who made some nice directing decisions but let the film get away from him.
PS It's not because you didn't understand it that it's smarter than you!
There are so many good cinematic elements in Beau is Afraid. Although its weaknesses are few, they are far more impactful. The movie is an hour too long and the narrative gets lost in its own forest of insanity.
Ari Aster's 3-hour epic and WILD odyssey, Beau is Afraid, sits right up there with his other works of art. This film really puts you in a POV of a paranoid man suffering through his life's trauma. I have to admit, there were some scenes that felt jarring and drawn out, but the parts that I did enjoy made it worth the watch. If you are already a fan of Ari Aster or A24 films, you will certainly be in awe of this adventure. For the casual movie goer, it could be a hit or a miss. Either way, tread lightly with an open mind.
I watched a review of Beau is Afraid where it was said that the movie is Ari Aster at his most Ari Aster. I couldn't disagree more with that. Reason being, this is not pretentious crap, stolen from '60s/'70s horror, presenting itself as "elevated" horror.
Is the movie weird as hell? Absolutely, but it actually has a clear story.
The movie follows Beau who is... well, afraid. He is soft spoken, he has yet to individuate from his narcissistic mother, and he is overflowing with anxiety. Simply put, he has good cause to be so afraid: he is living in a world of pure chaos.
Is this a horror movie? No. This is a very dark comedy. From the start, it felt like a Woody Allen movie, if it were directed by the Coen brothers.
The story operates on pure nightmare/dream logic: Beau will be in one crazy situation, then seamlessly flow into another one, however the plot is linear; it's telling a straight forward story, it's just a bonkers story.
The movie keeps an even tone throughout, even as it amps up, then cools down.
With this being almost exactly three hours, it never drags. It weave in and out of its movements, like a grand symphony.
Going back to Ari Aster, I do not like his work. I think he is entirely overrated, but I really liked this.
I already mentioned that this is a dark comedy, now that being said, it goes go ten-out-of-ten with the darkness toward the end, but it's still funny. I truly was not thinking it would get as insane as it did in the final act - if you've seen the movie, you'll know.
While I can't directly compare this to another film, I'd say it's similar to mother! (2017), Adaptation (2003), and Being John Malkovich (1999).
What an epic. Also, I never thought I'd see so much Parker Posey.
Spending 30 minutes to an hour a day over 3 days watching this and I still feel exhausted after that ending, I wanna say it was a waste of time but the start up until the half-point was such a shockingly interesting yet very disturbing act to watch. Aaand then it dipped, it was hard rooting for Beau but I did it anyway so the ending really did just ruin this adventure, no redemption whatsoever..
After hearing remarkable things about this and appreciating Ari Aster as much as anyone, this movie was...something. It is labeled as a comedy, but I didn't find it the least bit funny. It is a horror movie, but it is also not scary. The people that will appreciate this movie are the people that love the weirdest of the weird A24. That is not most people. I liked it, but I am also not sure what I liked. It requires a second watch to even understand what I thought was happening.
Rating: 3/5 - 75% - Worth Watching
Humans are selfish and cruel! Another amazing performance by Joaquin Phoenix. It's a little bit of Oedipus, but he's also trying to break free from a toxic relationship with his mother, all of which has given him intense anxiety and fear of anyone. Wookin pa nub in all da wong paces!
Rated a Connor 5, normal 6.5
It's difficult to distinguish between the reality and illusion
everyone who has ever been a dick to someone about their anxiety should be forced to watch this
The anxiety was real, and I kind of liked it. Buying at the grocery store was never so scary. I am mostly more interested in what a story does with me than what it means, and I was really invested in this one. The uneasiness, the weirdness, the infirmity—and somehow it still manages to put some joy in between. Or maybe I just got to the point where he made me enjoy those kinds of feelings. Thanks, I guess?!
I now understand why people say that this is a suffocating film to watch. Throughout my viewing experience I felt the weight of Beau’s anxiety and it made me feel like I couldn’t breathe.
What the heck did i just watch ? Now I 'm wondering why i continued to watch it ?
i absolutely love this. will i watch it again? no, absolutely not.
Not really a (dark) comedy as it was advertised. It was however a very good psychological thriller, a dark Truman Show, with a lot of references to the latter. It has an important length, but perhaps it may find a place among the best films of the year.
Beau is afraid . . . afraid of the most relentlessly terrifying monster of all - the unforgiving inner Judge of his own ego formed of his own false beliefs about himself. One of the best psychological movies of all time...
The cast is too amazing, still turned off after 1/2 hour. Its just too much.
I can't really articulate what I actually watched in "Beau Is Afraid". There is no clearly understandable narrative structure in this Kafkaesque odyssey of the title character, Beau (Joaquin Phoenix), who suffers from a severe mother complex. Director Ari Aster obviously had all sorts of neuroses to work through. I've read here several times about a three-hour "therapy session" for the director, and I agree with the gist of it. Aster relies primarily on surrealism and metaphors. You truly never know what's supposed to be real, but that's not the point of the film anyway.
Just because you don't understand everything, though, "Beau Is Afraid" is by no means bad. There are some brilliant camera angles and really hilarious scenes, as well as great acting by Phoenix. The supporting characters are also well cast, with Nathan Lane, Amy Ryan, and Patti LuPone among those who stand out. However, I share the criticism that the film is overloaded. After the first hour completely captivated me, the long runtime was clearly noticeable in the remaining two hours. Also, some lengths are noticeable, but the film never becomes boring because of the many creative ideas and the overall unpredictability.
Whether you like the movie or not depends primarily on whether you like surrealistic cinema or not. However, I would definitely recommend everyone to make up their own mind. Aster's third feature is many things, but definitely not generic.
Endlessly self-indulgent, nauseating bliss; a 3-hour fever dream. Did it need to be 3 hours long? Maybe not, but I respect the movie's complete commitment to being as hard to watch as possible. Aster's best, in my opinion.
If Midsommar was a high point, you can begin to imagine how low this point is.
Sometimes, you can try to be so offbeat that it becomes parody.
The film has finished now, but I'm still considering walking out.
Ari Aster best described Beau Is Afraid as "a Jewish 'Lord of the Rings', but Beau is just going to his mom's house."
From the film's beginning to the end, you ask yourself "How the hell did we get here?". While watching the movie, I wondered if this is a personal project from Ari Aster.
I'm like his mother, concerned.
Really can't describe this.
Best description I heard so far: "the Odyssey meets The Truman Show meets Synecdoche (2008) meets mother! (2017) meets Under the Silver Lake", and "it is a seemingly formless string of visual metaphors, it's like an album visualizer for crippling anxiety and mommy issues" -meeptop
What a snooze fest , started out like it was gonna be one of Joaquin Phoenix's weird but interesting rolls but falls miserably short.
Maybe a practice movie for "JOKER 2" ???
I enjoyed the movie, all 3 hours of it, but I literally have no clue as to what I just saw other than countless mindf:asterisk_symbol:cks and whf/wth moments. Beautifully made and filmed but - even taking into account this is arthouse - what was it really? Sure, the synopsis pushes you in a certain direction as does the plot, but if anything this was maddening. If that was the intention, well played Ari Aster, well played.. :face_with_hand_over_mouth:
What if Eeyore was the main character in Pink Floyd's The Wall?
A lot of movies like this I don’t gel with because it starts come off as a waste of time, that was not the case here. Give Ari Aster whatever he wants
Shout by Sam WightVIP 2BlockedParent2023-04-25T04:17:58Z
I unironically LOVE this movie. It is DEFINITELY not going to be for everyone, but dear god did it manage to hook me. As someone with anxiety, it managed to capture it just about the best I've ever seen in a movie. This isn't what's literally going on inside an anxious person's head. Instead, it feels like Ari Aster is trying to make you feel like an anxious person would. It's a visual metaphor that produces a feeling that feels the same.
Idk anyway I fucking loved it. This is proof to me that you can make a movie that's confusing as fuck but still make it entertaining.