This story has been updated with new details and republished.
He may have made his name reinventing horror as the twisted mind behind Hereditary and Midsommar, but director Ari Aster’s next project Beau Is Afraid, with A24, is — according to those who’ve seen it — his strangest movie yet. The project was thrust upon an audience who arrived to see an April Fool’s Day screening of the Hereditary Director’s Cut, only to find they’d be watching the unseen movie instead. In response, critics and fans have started voicing their thoughts on the film, and they are all — for the most part — rather confused. Now, the movie has been given a rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on the average of 65 critical reviews, and has scored a still-fairly-strong 75% approval.
Initially opening in just a few theatres in New York and Los Angeles, the film has already grossed $320,396. According to Variety, this puts it just behind Uncut Gems in terms of per-screen box office performance for A24, making it the biggest indie opening in 2023 – and that’s before its nationwide release this weekend.
So what’s the plot of the obscure film? Who else is in the cast? And when can the rest of us finally see it? Here’s everything you need to know about Beau Is Afraid.
What’s the plot of Beau Is Afraid?
A24 have said the following about film’s plot: “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.”
In a recent New York Times interview, Ari Aster revealed that he thought of the film as a “Jewish comedy”, and that intense paranoia and oddball humour were key parts of the film’s spirit. One scene, as seen by the writer of that article, begins in a “nightmarish” apartment, “permeated by ravenous brown spiders, shrieks from violent neighbours and the clammy air of dead prospects”. Beau, played by Joaquin Phoenix, leaves said apartment and “wanders into a landscape of vicious suburban teenagers, broken war veterans, helpers, hinderers and assorted psychos”. What does it all mean? We imagine that will be a huge part of the fun of watching it.
Is there a trailer for Beau Is Afraid?
Yep, the first trailer for Beau is Afraid dropped in January 2023. In it, we watch as Joaquin Phoenix’s Beau, a lonely man with entrenched childhood traumas, gears himself up to go visit his mum. That is until he gets hit by a car and finds himself trapped in the house of the drivers who hit him. Thus, we might imagine, begins a trippy, decade-spanning and torturous escape where Beau confronts all his worst nightmares.
Who’s in the cast of Beau is Afraid?
Of his leading man, Ari Aster told the French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche, “I can tell you that collaborating with Joaquin Phoenix is one of the best experiences of my life. I am very proud of his performance and I love him with all my heart.”
Joining Joaquin in the film are Nathan Lane and Amy Ryan, who both recently starred in Only Murders in the Building, as well as the legendary Patti LuPone, Parker Posey (The Sweetest Thing), Stephen McKinley Henderson (Dune), Denis Ménochet (The French Dispatch), and Zoe Lister-Jones (New Girl) as well as Kylie Rogers, Hayley Squires and Michael Gandolfini in undisclosed roles.
So what are the reviews like for Beau Is Afraid?
Beau Is Afraid debuted on Rotten Tomatoes with a score of 71% which, while respectable, is the lowest of Ari Aster’s offerings so far: Hereditary and Midsommar scored 90% and 83% respectively. In their reviews, critics seemed to generally agree that the movie was chaos. Rolling Stone compared its delirious absurdity to Everything Everywhere All At Once while IndieWire described the movie as like “being a guest at your own bris (in a fun way!)” – a bris of course being a Jewish circumcision ceremony. Even those who didn’t seem to like the movie agreed it was unhinged, with The Guardian referring to it as “mock Oedipal agony”, TIME calling it “a banquet of all the TMI you can eat” and Vanity Fair saying that despite how “irksome (or worse)” some of the film (which, they say, has severe mommy issues) may be, it has a gravitational pull”. The most intriguing review came from Inverse: “It’s a gonzo odyssey for our times, a rejection of mediocre cinema, and a paean for all the perverted weirdos out there. This one’s for you, sickos.”
Joaquin Phoenix and Ari Aster did receive praise for their work however, with the Hollywood Reporter calling the former’s acting “a raw, gaping wound of a characterisation” and The Daily Beast saying the movie was “a true American original, and proof that, while the hype surrounding [Aster] may have been early, it wasn’t wrong.”
On social media, reviews have been coming in too, with writer Matt Neglia calling it “a stunning and maddening journey” and David Sims of The Atlantic, meanwhile, calling it “the best movie of the year”. Writer Matt Jacobs said it was “pure bliss, like cloud-nine shit”, while i-D contributor Lex Briscuso said she’ll need “5-7 business years to take it all in”.
Others aren’t so convinced. Ezra Cubero, for example, highlighted its highs and lows:
Is there any behind-the-scenes footage?
Yes! A24 revealed a short clip from the making of the movie, in which Ari Aster dubs it a “Jewish Lord of the Rings”.
Is it true the film is four hours long?
It’s not, thankfully. After lots of industry rumours, it was revealed the final runtime is the comparatively trim (but still very, very long) 2 hours and 59 mins.
When will Beau Is Afraid be released?
A24 have now announced that Beau Is Afraid will have a limited US release on 14 April before having a wider release on 21 April. It will have its UK release on 19 May.