Beau Is Afraid
Aster's highly anticipated third feature, Beau Is Afraid, seems to be a direct response to people who have suggested that he seek out some kind of therapy. Beau (Joaquin Phoenix) is an extremely anxious adult man living alone in a dangerous part of a big city, afraid to even go outside. He is seemingly terrified of his mother, a famous businesswoman, and confides to his therapist that he feels both guilty and resentful of disappointing her. After his plans to visit her fall apart, he receives some upsetting news and must get to his mother's house as quickly as possible.
What happens next is a bizarre odyssey composed of a series of increasingly absurd disasters, accurately described by Aster himself as "a Jewish Lord of the Rings, but Beau's just going to his mom's house." Along the way, Beau encounters two kindly suburban parents (Nathan Lane and Amy Ryan) and their unhinged teenage daughter (Kylie Rogers), an off-the-grid theater troupe that lives in the forest, and a variety of other crazy characters, either real or imagined. The story also bounces back and forth between flashbacks of key moments from a young Beau's life with his younger mother (Zoe Lister-Jones), including a cruise on which he meets his first (and possibly only) love Elaine, with whom he promises to remain virgins until they meet again as adults.
Beau's anxieties are heightened to such a degree that they defy reality and approach a level of comic violence like something out of a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Aster's long-time cinematographer Pawel Pogorzelski gleefully captures madcap death and destruction while the production designers cram each frame full of background jokes and dirty posters. Joaquin Phoenix moves through this world like a man with his hair constantly on fire, running and screaming from his fears that threaten to come alive and kill him wherever he is.
Despite the darkness inherent in his works, Aster has always fancied himself a comedian, and Beau Is Afraid is his funniest movie yet. Beau's impossibly bad luck and slapstick misadventures make the first two acts of this three-hour movie sing; even if you're not exactly sure what's going on, it's marvelous entertainment and comedy so dark that any laugh emitted threatens to permanently alienate you from a theater's audience. The supporting cast is each given a chance to dial it up way past 11; Nathan Lane is delightfully deadpan amidst ongoing chaos, and Kylie Rogers is a supernova of energy in her hatred of Beau, almost overpowering Phoenix to such a degree that you are almost more interested in her. Multiple nameless background actors produce memorable screams, stunts and gags, whether they're trying to hide on the ceiling above Beau's shower or coolly pulling a handgun out of nowhere amidst an ambush of gunfire.
The third act is both hard to talk about without spoilers yet also impossible to spoil even if I told you exactly what happens. Beau and his mother (a spectacular Patti LuPone) confront their issues in the most unhealthy way possible. Secrets are revealed as the movie moves squarely into the realm of metaphor and symbolism, driven home by a final scene in which all of Beau's anxieties, guilt and trauma are laid bare and judged, not just by the characters but by you, the audience, as well. The credits roll over a clever meta-recreation of the likely reaction of most theatergoers watching the movie, shuffling out in baffled silence while quietly questioning what the heck just happened.
Beau Is Afraid is bound to be incredibly polarizing, especially for those who aren't willing to go along with the movie's absurdism. Aster may never again get the kind of budget or media attention that Beau Is Afraid has received, and I admire his willingness to take the biggest swing possible. There were times it felt like Aster was too in love with his material to make further edits (an early cut had it at four hours), but it's hard to blame him when each scene is begging to be rewatched and dissected for meaning.
It's a therapy session come to life like some kind of Frankenstein. Even if Aster isn't really okay, he's at least turned his trauma into strangely relatable and fiercely compelling art that demands to be seen.
