4 stars out of 5
I described Ari Aster’s 2018 film Hereditary as “seriously f’ed.” And in 2019, I said his film Midsommar was “100% f’ed up.” But not until writing this review did I realize that those two movies and new release Beau Is Afraid (pretty messed up in its own right) were written and directed by the same guy. My point being, I accidentally went in without any preconceptions about the filmmaker.
For the first half hour or so, I was thinking, “This is clever but mean-spirited; I don’t think I want to watch a whole movie about the misadventures of someone with mental illness.” It appeared to be a dark comedy with Joaquin Phoenix (a fave of mine) as Beau, a sad-sack schlub with OCD-esque fears, manifesting as delusions, in the Taxi Driver world around him. He’s supposed to visit his mom — who he has serious issues with, of course — but reality or perhaps fantasy prevent him from making the trip, yet then he kind of has to get to Mom because he learns she is suddenly possibly dead.
Enter Nathan Lane and Amy Ryan as a chipper upper-middle-class couple who “adopt” Beau into their American Beauty-ful suburban home where they want to take care of him and then help him on his way. This is Act II if you will, and the film has morphed into a satire of the American Dream: family, success, the whole schmear.
Beau has no time for this satire! He’s gotta get to his mom! As he escapes suburban splendor and its seamy underbelly, we enter Act III, and his journey is portrayed as an epic quest, complete with magical woodlands and inventive animation. I felt the influence of Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze without it seeming derivative. As the movie flashed back to to Beau’s pubescence and forward to his old age, I was genuinely transported by nearly perfect filmmaking.
Alas, the movie keeps going, into an Act IV, and V, remaining sharp and surprising but unable to maintain its heady brilliance. (Later segments did seem derivative of movies I won’t mention as they might be spoilers.) And the longer it went on, the more I felt an underlying cynicism slightly detracting from the film’s overall quality.
Regarding the running time: I was watching a 3:15pm screening in Montclair, not at all concerned about getting back to Hoboken for a 7pm Zoom meeting. Well, as I casually strolled out of the theater and glanced at the time, I was shocked to see it was now 6:30pm. The movie had felt long and by god it was: 2 hours, 59 minutes! They could’ve trimmed 20 minutes easily and I wouldn’t have had to log into Zoom from my car parked on a random quiet residential block.
Still, there is so much to appreciate, including Phoenix’s fearful performance, fun cameos, action sequences, surrealism, pop psychology, etc. etc. Thanks for the ride, Ari Aster.
Jack Silbert, curator