Beau Is Afraid Movie Review

Writer/Director Ari Aster has become one of Hollywood’s most interesting filmmakers. Predominantly operating in the horror genre, his previous films ‘Hereditary’ in 2018 and ‘Midsommar’ in 2019, were massive hits in the genre and rank among two of my favourite horror films in recent years. Studio A24 has allowed Aster to stick to his creative vision, creating films that have a distinct style, but also lofty runtimes, that no other studios in Hollywood would allow a director to operate in. Hereditary has a runtime of 2 hours and 7 minutes, Midsommar with a director’s cut runtime of 2 hours and 28 minutes and now his latest film Beau is Afraid with a whopping runtime of 2 hours and 59 minutes. It seems that every film Aster makes, gets progressively longer, and I am all for it! Beau is Afraid follows Beau coping with the recent death of his mother, who must confront his darkest fears in an epic and weird adventure back home.

As a massive fan of Aster’s work, I was very excited to check out Beau is Afraid. It has everything going for it, Ari Aster at the helm, A24 producing, Joaquin Phoenix in the title role, and a supporting cast of Amy Smart, Nathan Lane, and Parker Posey. I am also always a sucker for these larger, unwieldy projects that have an insane runtime, interesting premise and a strong character focus. These types of projects can go one of two ways, they’re either terrible or brilliant, but one thing they always deliver on, is an entertaining experience. I was super pumped to see ‘Beau Is Afraid’ and I am happy to say, it did not disappoint.

Beau is Afraid benefits from a committed performance from Joaquin Phoenix as the title character Beau. His journey is truly profound and dreamlike, and Phoenix really dedicates himself to the role. He is known for his method acting, but never goes too over-the-top. Phoenix has to play Beau in surrealist situations and throughout the course of Beau’s life, providing a very varied, albeit controlled performance. He really does shine here, and I hope this is the first of many collaborations with writer/director/producer Ari Aster.

Ari Aster’s visual flare is on full display here, with studio A24 giving the director complete creative control. He has dabbled in this type of unique and surrealist imagery in his previous two efforts, Hereditary and Midsommar, however, Beau Is Afraid, whilst scary at times, is never a full-blown horror film, dancing between comedy, drama and horror throughout its 3-hour runtime. There aren’t too many directors out there that could get away with such a concept, but Aster does, and the results are profoundly beautiful.

‘Beau is Afraid’ definitely isn’t for everyone, but for those whose intrigue was spiked with its weird and unique premise and trailer, will need to check it out. Aster’s direction mixed with Phoenix’s performance, make Beau is Afraid one of the more unique films I have seen since Midsommar .Beau is Afraid is now available on DVD and Blu-Ray, secure your copy below, today from Sanity. You won’t want to miss it!

Christopher Pattison wrote this blog post for Sanity. See more from Chris here