Now in Theaters: BEAU IS AFRAID

“How…. What…. HUH?!” My reaction during the entire 179 minutes of BEAU IS AFRAID, the strangest film you will ever see. No, “strange” is too mild a word to describe this over-the-top, bizarre, insane, epic, hilariously creepy black comedy from Ari Aster, the hit filmmaker who continues to disturb the living heck out of me with his fictional worlds. In his feature debut, Hereditary (2018), a girl is decapitated by a telephone pole from sticking her head out a moving vehicle. In Midsommar (2019), a man is drugged and coerced into engaging in an incredibly uncomfortable sex scene with a woman while older, naked women stand around him and his lover and sing hymns. In BEAU IS AFRAID….oh my Hashem. Where do I begin?!

I am still processing this movie, and there are moments that are going to equally disturb and fascinate me until the day I die. This is SOMETHING. First of all, is this considered a “Jewish” horror comedy? Well, yes. Sort of. Aster is Jewish himself and describes his epic as a “Jewish Lord of the Rings.” A Jewish Lord of the Rings? Sorry, but what?!

We only find out the lead characters of BEAU IS AFRAID are Jewish until the third act, but Judaism is not a common theme in the film. It isn’t until hours and hours after the movie when you start to understand the subtle Jewish satire of BEAU IS AFRAID in its depiction of the overbearing mother and her insecure son trope we see in so many in Jewish stories. Aster, however, loves horror, OVER-THE-TOP, increasingly disturbing horror. What he has done is taken the centuries-old stereotype of the Jewish mother and her son and crafted the most divisive film that will ever exist.

“Divisive” is a word that might scare people away from BEAU IS AFRAID, but any time I read divisive reviews of a movie, I’m the first in line to see it. What is it about this film that’s making it sound so weird and divisive amongst critics and viewers? I don’t know where to start. And if I sound redundant in this blog post, do forgive me. Like I said, I’m still processing this movie. When 2023 ends, everybody will still be talking about it. BEAU IS AFRAID is a story about a very anxious, practically agoraphobic man trying to see his mother. He goes on a journey, a terrifying, fantastical, hilarious, surreal one that makes absolutely no sense, unless you’re just really good at instantly understanding abstract cinema. And if you do understand BEAU IS AFRAID better than I do, I could not be more jealous!

The “son” in the movie is Beau, of course, played by the never-bad-always-amazing-actor Joaquin Phoenix. Phoenix takes every role he is given and completely immerses himself in his characters. It’s truly a sight to behold watching someone so naturally become an imaginary person. Beau is a mess. He lives alone in a dingy, dirty, egregiously dangerous neighborhood in a city. He visits his therapist (veteran actor Stephen McKinley Henderson) where he admits his hesitation to soon hop on a plane and visit his mother, Mona (Patti LuPone, phenomenal), a wealthy, accomplished businesswoman. When I say his neighborhood is dangerous, I mean that his neighborhood is literally LIVE OR DIE. Homeless people shoot at one another. There’s a naked man stabbing people. Beau has to sprint to his apartment to avoid getting attacked by a tattooed guy. (Even his eyes are tattooed.) In his apartment, there’s a dangerously venomous spider loose…

If you think I’m lying, I swear I’m not. Aster exaggerates everything in his film, and it’s so funny. The audience I saw this with was cackling from start to finish. Right away, we understand that it’s unclear whether this is reality or all in Beau’s mind. He’s an anxious man, so are all these nefarious people just visions of his imagination? You decide.

Beau is supposed to see his mom. Pretty soon into the movie, something absurdly tragic happens which only further galvanizes his urgency to see her. What happens next in the 179 minutes of BEAU IS AFRAID? A WHOLE lot! Beau is hit by a car and stabbed. He is taken in by a creepily obsequious couple, played to perfection by Nathan Lane and Amy Ryan. He finds a “collection of traveling orphans” in the woods. He hallucinates an alternate version of his life – or is it his real life? – in a crazy, extended animated sequence featuring a ridiculous monologue. The film culminates in two endings, really, and both of them are equally insane. There is a sequence set in an attic that… oy vey. OY. VEY. That’s a good “oy vey,” though. Don’t be turned off! I say “oy vey” in that it is SO. FREAKIN’. WEIRD.

There are many images and motifs reminiscent of Hereditary and Midsommar in BEAU IS AFRAID which further validate my belief that Aster’s films are all set in the same universe. He’s one of the most gifted filmmakers around, and he’s only 36! It’s crazy. His vision is simply extraordinary, but I do need to warn you: BEAU IS AFRAID is going to either fascinate or make you furious and want your money back. It’s a HEAVY movie. While I appreciated the dark humor and horror of it all, the deeper themes are still a mystery to me that I’m trying to figure out. Despite that, I cannot recommend this movie enough. If you want to laugh out loud and have your mind blown, go on this journey with Beau. Just because you don’t understand this film doesn’t mean it sinks its hooks into your brain. It’s meant to be abstract. It’s meant to take the absurdity and expand it exponentially. Aster has done his job, and I’ll leave it to you whether you should see his movie or not.

I’m near the end of this post and I have barely talked about the “Jewish” relationship between Beau and Mona. I could, but then I would give away a lot of the plot. I would also probably say things that I’m not entirely sure I understand because BEAU IS AFRAID is still squeezing off and twisting all the molecules in my brain. It’s been quite a while since a film has perplexed me this hard, and Mr. Aster, I cannot wait to see what you do next!

BEAU IS AFRAID is now playing in theaters.

By Matthew Bussy, Program Director of PJFM