The world is a rough place. How rough… well, you’re going to have to see for yourself. And then you’re going to have to ask yourself: Is any of this real? By “this” I mean whatever’s going on in Beau Is Afraid, the latest film from writer-director Ari Aster (Hereditary). It’s just a man (Joaquin Phoenix) trying to visit his mom, and running intro trouble on the way. Or is it?
Truly, I have no idea what’s real here, or what “real” even means. The movie’s summary is short:
A paranoid man embarks on an epic odyssey to get home to his mother in this bold and ingeniously depraved new film from writer/director Ari Aster.
The trailer doesn’t seem particularly depraved, but this is the guy who made both Hereditary and Midsommar, so I trust that the depravity is in there somewhere. What it does seem is baffling: What’s with the chaos? What’s with the people who hit Beau with their car, then take him in and won’t let him leave? What’s with the paper world? And the scaffolding? And the many versions of Phoenix, seen in the poster below?
Honestly you can ask “what’s with” about just about every frame of this trailer, which at least suggests this will not be your typical moviegoing experience.
Along with Phoenix, Beau Is Afraid also stars Nathan Lane, Amy Ryan, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Hayley Squires, Denis Ménochet, Kylie Rogers, Armen Nahapetian, Zoe Lister-Jones, Parker Posey, and Patti LuPone. It’s in theaters April 21st.
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