Review by Darren Gaskell
As we’re introduced to Beau Wasserman (Joaquin Phoenix), he’s attending what seems to be an all-too regular therapy session and the talk soon turns to a forthcoming journey to his hometown, where his formidable-sounding mother lies in wait. Beau’s building trepidation about the trip results in an updated prescription, but those drugs are going to have to work overtime as a series of calamities catapult him into an epic and increasingly surreal odyssey to make it to his destination in one piece.
Even if you’ve seen Ari Aster’s previous work and its occasional detours into the world of the strange, it’s scant preparation for the utterly unhinged piece of work that is Beau Is Afraid. The opening stanza, set in the neighbourhood that is home to our middle-aged, unkempt protagonist, is a jaw-dropping collision of bizarre hilarity and terrifying confrontations, populated by a cast of fringe dwellers whose hobbies include selling automatic weaponry from their market stall and charging around in the nude looking for random victims to stab.
Beau’s apartment is in keeping with the madness outside, a barely held together series of rooms in which the utilities function seemingly at random and tenants push notes under the door complaining about escalating noise which isn’t even being generated, let alone escalating. It’s a vivid picture of Beau’s existence and his constant anxiety but as you’re watching the cast of a VHS-era, post-apocalyptic flick gleefully going about their nefarious business, the film is also making you aware of a schism in the proceedings. How much of this is actually taking place and how much is in the mind of our hero? Even if it is taking place, to what extent is Beau’s chemical-addled brain embellishing it all?
To be honest, the use of the word “hero” is pushing the definition somewhat. Beau is a frustrating collection of mumbles and ticks, incapable of making a decision, always choosing silence when a few words would change his course entirely. He’s a thoroughly reactive type who has to be threatened with potential death to make him shift faster than a shuffle. Be prepared, you’re going to be following this guy for almost three hours.
And yet, the gargantuan run time presents few, if any, issues in terms of boredom, as the plot’s episodic misadventures unveil an amusing array of supporting characters. Take Nathan Lane and Amy Ryan, for instance, as far too good to be true Good Samaritans Roger and Grace, whose idyllic homestead is a front for a plethora of goings-on that are, excuse the language in a review, monumentally f***ed up. Things somehow get weirder from there as Beau heads into the wilderness and the story introduces yet another reality before pitching him on an accidental collision course with childhood sweetheart Elaine, now played in grown-up form by Parker Posey.
As if the movie isn’t juggling its timelines and multiverses enough, yes! There are flashbacks! Sweet ones at that, too, as young Beau (brilliantly played by Armen Nahapetian) meets young Elaine (Julia Antonelli, also superb) on a cruise and the two of them bond over their similar familial set-up and the ship’s vast array of desserts. This departure would normally lay the foundation for an emotional reunion and a feel good, romantic payoff, years later, but you wouldn’t expect Aster to deliver something so straightforward. And he doesn’t.
Central to all of those head-scratching developments is Phoenix, delivering a performance that requires handing all of the showier moments to the others in the cast and yet he’s still memorable, managing to keep the viewer on side with a character whom the audience will find increasingly difficult to be sympathetic towards due to his total inability to pull himself together in any given situation. He’s terrific as a shambling, maddening mess of a man and it’s easy to see why Aster wanted Phoenix as his lead. Parker Posey, of course, is reliably great, managing to delight, surprise and shock in her limited time on screen.
It’s hardly a revelation for me to say that Beau Is Afraid is a divisive movie. It doesn’t so much move between humour and horror as have both things running together for the entire runtime, which may prove too much for those who don’t fancy spending a hundred and seventy-eight minutes wondering whether they should burst out laughing or watch through their fingers. There will be walkouts, of that I’m certain. If you loved either Hereditary or Midsommar or both, good on you; however this is an entirely different proposition.
Regardless of the overall experience, I find it encouraging that a major studio invested thirty-five million dollars in this and gave Ari Aster the freedom to make whatever he wanted. Oh my, he’s done that, and then some. His flat out refusal to provide any explanation of what’s real, what’s not and what the hell is happening in general will have some racing to the exit long before the end credits roll. The final act, even compared with what’s gone before, is bonkers. By the end, I was none the wiser. I may have been even more confused than I was after the first hour. I left the cinema in a daze.
I loved it.
Beau is Afraid (2023) is on general release from 19th May 2023 (UK).