Ari Aster's "Beau is Afraid" - Review
It's been a few weeks since I sat back in the vaguely cushy IMAX theater seats at the AMC in Emeryville, and let Ari Aster’s Beau is Afraid wash over me like the film of Axe body spray that coated the surface of my middle school’s pool when I took swimming lessons as a kid. My skin is still oily - metaphorically speaking - but I’m going to bite the bullet and dive right in. Anything to distract myself from studying for my job interview tomorrow.
Abandonment, mommy issues, repressed sexuality: Beau, our protagonist, lives a terrifying life of Sisyphean struggle against his fears which we first see depicted with a quotidian bluntness. There are a lot of lively, graphic, and wildly entertaining details sprinkled throughout Beau’s misadventures that add a sense of levity to what would otherwise be a fucking tedious exercise for the viewer. Beau’s fears are meticulously composed for the big screen in every frame of every scene. Aster creates a spectacle of anxiety in the same way that Top Gun creates a spectacle of fighter jets and volleyball.
We watch Beau making his way back home to attend the funeral of his late mother. A terrified man with wealthy Jewish mommy issues - that is more than enough premise for a rich 3 hour romp. We see Beau hit by a box truck as he runs from a naked knife-wielding assailant. He frantically flees a violent, psychotic military vet. He roams the wilderness searching for his lost family, only for him to realize the family he finds are strangers to him. His first sexual partner dies on top of him.
We see more and more of Beau venturing outside his comfort zone. It blows up in his face every time. Beau finds his mother faking her own death just to prod for his reaction. He learns that his own therapist spied on him for his mother. At the culmination, his thoughts and insecurities are taken, warped, and shared against his will to a sea of rubbernecking voyeurs in a massive arena. Richard Kind pleads, on behalf of Beau’s onlooking mother, a public case for the end of Beau’s life as spectators monch on popcorn, disinterested - some are slowly filing out through the vomitoria. Beau dies.
None of Beau’s efforts matter in the end. It’s just like untreated anxiety in real life! It’s an inescapable force, constantly moving the goal posts. Beau’s reptilian brain is in the driver’s seat throughout this entire story, which I would have found an interesting hypothetical. But seeing Aster’s execution of this premise makes me question whether I have good taste in hypotheticals. Admittedly, I like the idea of depicting an anxiety that doesn’t just magically resolve itself as the hero protagonist saves the world, gets the girl, and avenges his dead dog. Our culture tells us we can overcome our problems just as long as we work hard and persist, and that’s bullshit. Beau is Afraid is a tale of a man's arduous and ultimately pointless struggle against his own brain, in vivid color.
Ari Aster takes a lot of liberties with his audience. Beau is Afraid is a risk, it’s three hours long. The latest Avatar movie got away with a three hour runtime because it was nonstop action stunningly depicted in dramatic spectacle. Beau is Afraid has action alright, but after a certain point it seems pointless and self indulgent. The structure is far too loose, and runtime far too long for the spectacle and performances alone to sustain the picture.
If this movie was 85 minutes long, I’d probably like it a lot more. But it isn’t, and I hate it. I’m sure this film was fun to write, and I’m sure it was fun to make. But I didn’t find it very fun to watch. I have never before watched a larger proportion of an audience walk out of a movie. I managed to stick it out to the end.