Ari Aster

Beau is a paranoid and anxiety-riddled man who is going to visit is mother tomorrow. Unfortunately, this will involve a plane trip, and there are many, many things that can and do go wrong before he even makes it out the door. Which makes this sound like a relatively normal story, but believe me when I say it isn't. Beau has valid reasons for being afraid, and yet even he could not possibly imagine just how weirdly horrible his situation will become.

I was hesitant to watch this because it's an Ari Aster film, and everything I've heard about Hereditary and Midsommar have put them on my "do not watch, ever" list. There's only so much realistic gore and characters in immense pain and terror that I can take. However, reviews seemed to indicate that, in terms of gore at least, Beau Is Afraid would be different.

Man, this was a weird movie - never what I'd call pleasant or fun, but strangely compelling all the same. Initially, I thought all of Beau's fears and paranoia would be in his own head - present and possible, but never as bad in real life as his terrified brain always expected it would be. That was not the case. The people in Beau's world were messed up and terrifying, and, even if Beau's brain was exaggerating things, there were no normal explanations for some of the stuff that happened.

Although there was no real on-screen gore, there were a few moments that were, for various reasons, hard to watch, such as a scene in which one of the characters commits suicide by drinking paint, as well as the one sex scene and its aftermath. By the time you get to the sex scene, though, things are so bizarre that it's tough to know how much of what you're seeing could in any way be connected to reality. Beau definitely goes through some stuff.

Joaquin Phoenix was fabulous as Beau - even if Beau's situations were bizarre, his emotional reactions always felt real, and after a while I really wanted the universe to go a bit easier on him. But no, even when he was with "nice" people, there was something off about them and/or their situation, and Beau was a guy who was either constantly steamrolled by the world or defeated by his own inability to make decisions and stick up for himself.

During most of the movie, viewers gradually learn bits and pieces about Beau and his relationship with his mother, a powerful and overbearing woman who spent Beau's entire life molding him into learned helplessness. Was a good ending ever possible for Beau? Considering everything that happened, it doesn't seem like it.

I don't regret watching this, although I'm not entirely sure what I was supposed to get out of it in the end. At any rate, I'm grateful that my anxious fears aren't nearly as justified and all-encompassing as Beau's.

Extras:

A "making of " featurette.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)… (meer)

Acting: Terrific. Production and Set Design; Fantastic. Cinematography: Beautiful. That said, this is a movie built on being mysterious to create tension; and it successfully creates tension through the entire movie. Sadly, the story is weak. The clues are rare and are not used to build understanding of a mystery. The clues are confusing and lacking, and then are suddenly put together in an unsatisfying ending.
Possible spoiler: This movie is more about "possession" than "heredity".
— Rebecca… (meer)

Second watch, February 23, 2023:

It resonated more with me this second watch. That being said…

I deeply dislike Annie. I understand she is coming from a place of childhood and adult trauma (that breastfeeding miniature makes me want to take a purging sauna and a Xanax), but she is so closed off from empathy in a deeper way that I think is her character and that explains Charlie’s peculiarity.

What the hell is Peter’s crown made from? It looks like a combo of ostrich skin and Silly Putty.

Can we stop making horror movies using the names of real demons? Mess around and invoke, that’s my motto. How hard is it to make up a name? This is about the seventh or eighth movie I’ve watched now using a demonic name from history. I don’t want to spin a Blu-ray one night and end up possessed, thank you. I’m already chronically ill and disabled. I don’t need to complete that trinity.

When Peter asked his friend to hold his hand because he is panicking, I nearly teared up. Poor baby.

And poor Charlie. They really went there and named her Charles. I missed that the first time, saw the embroidered mat this time. Didn’t have to go that extra step, oof.

I wonder about the demonic/magic names/words all over the house. Obviously they were invocations of some sort, placed by her mother, and Annie knew about them; she even included them in her artwork. What was her personal reasoning for them, since she didn’t know/didn’t remember that her mother was in a Satanic cult?

You know me, always with the questions. Back to that gross crown. That couldn’t have been human flesh. The puckers were too even, and it was too much like Silly Putty. Help a girl out?

Comment: I also noticed for the first time the cult’s symbol on the telephone pole. And that Annie, at the end, created a beheaded Peter and placed it in his miniature bed. So eerie.

Third watch, February 26, 2023:

New details noticed (my husband wanted to see it):
the last time the miniature crash scene is shown, Charlie’s head is missing.

The statue of Paimon is not only made from Charlie’s head, it’s also made from a life-size art model posable doll. Symbolizing not only Charlie’s and Annie’s compulsive art creation, but also manipulation?

Not noted last time: Joan claims the chalkboard belonged to her grandson, but she bought it at that art store where she ambushed Annie in the parking lot with the news. There is a brief shot of her open trunk, and you can see it there.

There is a deleted scene that we both agreed should have been included: Steve goes to check on Peter, and Peter sobs to him that he should have been the one to die, that Charlie was talented and he does nothing, then there’s a cut to Annie in bed. It’s obvious she can hear Peter in immense pain, but doesn’t go to him. It fits the theme of substitution, and also fills in more detail about the toxic family dynamic, and is a beautiful scene depicting grief.… (meer)