‘I really thought I was gonna die, my whole life…’
I don’t really like art that could be described as provocative. I don’t want to be provoked. I want to feel something yes, but I want that feeling to be joy and happiness at being entertained. Beau is Afraid is about as provocative as cinema gets, but crucially, it’s also very dull and annoying…
Beau Wasserman (Joaquin Phoenix) must confront his darkest fears when travelling home for his mother’s funeral. These fears include a stroppy teenage girl who eats paint, a huge phallic monster and his own neuroses.
The first 45 minutes of Beau is Afraid are pretty good as the chaotic and violent world erupting around the titular protagonist is personified by various terrifying lunatics running around in packs. There is no denying that director Ari Aster has a good eye for a shocking visual set piece – we know this from his previous films Hereditary and Midsommar and in its more coherent moments, this third film in the Aster oeuvre does have some spectacular visual moments. But all of that is overshadowed by the fact that this is a shitty, boring movie. I get that it’s supposed to be nightmarish and panic attack inducing, and it desperately wants to be that, but the only emotion I felt watching this piece of shit was mild bewilderment. By the end, I couldn’t wait for it to all be over. Phoenix is annoying (deliberate or not, it doesn’t matter, he’s not enjoyable) and the other characters are too cartoonish and garish to have any real value.
Beau is Afraid is a comedy that isn’t funny, a horror film that isn’t scary and a road movie that goes nowhere. I absolutely hated it.