DIRECTOR EXCLUSIVE
A Life Less Ordinary
It’s the end of the world and, quite rightly, Beau Is Afraid
“If you ever stop experimenting with the form, then where are you, right?
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IF YOU READ ANY OF the reviews of Ari Aster’s third feature Beau Is Afraid, you’ll likely encounter the word “departure”. In Hereditary and Midsommar, Aster gave us a pair of instant-classic horror movies; Beau is a three-hour comedy (of sorts) which its writer/director has flippantly referred to as “a Jewish Lord Of The Rings”.
But is it really such a hairpin turn? Like his first two films, Beau is obsessed with the themes of guilt and family, as Joaquin Phoenix’s eponymous “hero” – a man so crippled by anxiety, he struggles to leave the house – must travel cross-country to the funeral of his mum (Patti LuPone), the woman largely responsible for his splintered psyche. And while it’s certainly Aster’s funniest film, it’s also, arguably, his most discomfiting.