Following the sudden death of his mother, a mild-mannered but anxiety-ridden man confronts his darkest fears as he embarks on an epic, Kafkaesque odyssey back home.
Three hours. Three. The overriding question: WHY? Did writer/director Ari Aster (“Hereditary,” “Midsommar”) thinks us unable to understand Beau, or was the temptation to go on and on too much fun to contemplate? Or both? Or neither? I’ll admit right off horror isn’t my go-to genre. I’ve mostly found it silly. Even as a child, I wasn’t frightened by scary movies; I was somewhat amazed that anyone could take them seriously and be genuinely caught up in the seduction of fright. I am usually much more put off by gore and physical putridness. And “Beau Is Afraid” certainly has its share of that also. I realize those avid fans of Aster and the genre, in general, will no doubt love “Beau Is Afraid.” I’m the one left wondering, really? That’s it?
The film is something of a mixture of Stanley Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange” and “Mommie Dearest” in some respects. The Mommy theme comes across loud and clear, and the random, over-the-top violence, i.e., shooting, stabbing, hanging, exploding, burning, crushing, strangling, spearing, and drowning, seems to lose its shock effect eventually. I should note, also, that Aster, as yet, doesn’t appear to step into Kubrick’s shoes at this juncture, at least with this film. The film has no inner life. Beau is a zombie, and we are never really able to connect with him. He mumbles and shuffles and stumbles and races relentlessly throughout, but we know only the outward appearance of Beau, which makes it difficult to care about what happens to him eventually.
Patti LuPone, appearing on the TV show “The View” recently, mentioned that by the time she appeared at the filming for her role, Joaquin Phoenix, who plays Beau, had already been on the set for several weeks and was “exhausted.” Understatement, that. Knowing his method-acting approach to a role, I’m surprised he survived that long. His was not only on an exhaustive emotional roller coaster but one that relied little on dialogue and heavy on eyes, facial twitches, and “looks and stares.” He mumbled what minimal dialogue he had (purposefully?) through it, so lip reading wasn’t possible.
I went to this film expecting so much more, unfamiliar as I was with Aster’s previous work. My bad. Had I seen “Hereditary” and/or “Midsommar,” I would have been more prepared for this film; Phoenix can be brilliant, and ditto for the other actors in the cast. There just wasn’t anything to care about, and, lastly, it didn’t matter how it ended. Just as long as it did. Eventually.
In Theaters Friday, April 21st
