A review of Beau is Afraid from the perspective of someone who falls asleep everytime she goes to the movie theater
Spoilers Ahead
Beau is Afraid is a film that has divided movie lovers. Ari Aster is known for his strange concepts and dark themes but this film takes the cake. It was obvious from the beginning that Aster is doing something entirely new with this movie, the trailer has this strange juxtaposition of the chaos of his daily life versus the theatrical, practically comical, shots of leading man, Joaquin Phoenix, walking through a cardboard dreamscape. Everybody who watched the trailer was thrilled to see the movie and figure out what the fuck is actually going on. Often described as a three hour long acid trip, it's no surprise that many people absolutely hated this movie, some even calling it a dumpster fire. That being said, Ari Aster has always pushed the envelope with his movies, the shocking head incident in Hereditary, the bear suit in Midsommar, both scenes did the same things with viewers where they either loved it or hated it. However, with Beau is Afraid it's almost as if every moment holds the impact of those two previously stated scenes. So how was my experience watching this movie?
Well, for the last year and a half whenever I've wanted to see a movie in the theater I've given myself the delusion that "maybe this time I'll stay awake." It never works out though, but for this film I was convinced I could do it. After the initial announcement of Beau is Afraid, or rather Disappointment Boulevard as was its original title, I have been anxiously waiting for the movie to come out. We got our tickets ahead of time for an early viewing, 7:00 pm at the Regal Dole Cannery, and I was literally jumping for joy. So we arrived early, very early for some reason that only my boyfriend can explain, got our snacks and sat in the theater, the best seats in the house. We waited for about an hour for it to start and spent the whole time gushing over all of our theories about what we were about to experience. The movie started and I was locked in, it begins with Beau being birthed, yes literally being birthed. The shot is filmed from his perspective coming out of his mother. Immediately I could tell that mommy issues would be prevalent throughout, which seems like something that is big in Ari Aster's films as well as my life. He then takes us to Beau's adult life where he has to race past deranged derelicts just to safely enter his apartment. The dark surrealism of this location really engulfed me and Joaquin's acting made me feel as if I was right there alongside him. He then finds out his mother has had an accident and been beheaded by a chandelier. Due to his troubled, guilt ridden relationship with his mother this information sends him spiraling. He later gets hit by a truck and taken to this family's home to recover. I also want to point out that I had no clue this movie was three hours long, at this point and thought we were reaching the climax but alas I still had a whole journey ahead of me. Beau escapes the family and runs off into the woods where encounters a commune of theater people. At this point my eyelids started getting really heavy and my self awareness knows that it means I only have about twenty minutes of awakeness left in me.
Before I know it I'm shooting my eyes open and all of a sudden Beau is in a colorful, cardboard landscape dressed as a western farmer. How did he get to this point? I still have absolutely no clue but I stayed awake for another five or so minutes before fading out. I then wake up again to Beau as an old man with three sons, now at this point I have unconsciously gather the information that for some reason if Beau ejaculates he will die so seeing his three sons is very confusing and shocking and the time jump made me feel like I was asleep for the whole movie. So now I'm determined to stay awake and see how it ends but again, I fall asleep. This time I woke up to Beau back at his normal age with his mother, who I still thought was dead and headless. She explains that she faked her death and had also been monitoring his therapy appointments the whole time Beau had been going to them. He then goes into his mothers attic and I am rapidly going in and out of consciousness, he's climbing a ladder, asleep, his in a dark room, asleep, there's a massive penis, asleep, wait what the fuck that's a ginormous penis. The shock of that imagery kept me awake till the ending where he takes a boat out to the sea, he then goes through a cave and ends up in a giant arena where he's on trial for the sins he's committed against his mother. He is found guilty and the ship is blown to pieces.
As you can tell from my choppy viewing, this movie in itself feels like a dream, even if I wasn't missing so many parts of it I still don't think I would fully understand the message. However, from what I had seen I can gather that a mother's love is vicious and smothering, Beau is very mentally ill, life is absurd and confusing and Ari Aster is a twisted man.
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