BEAU IS AFRAID
Cert 15
172 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong threat, violence, sex, drug misuse, language, nudity, injury detail
Two obstacles I faced during Ari Aster's Beau Is Afraid were overcoming pins and needles in the buttocks and drifting off to sleep.
I failed on both counts, although I was fortunate to watch it at home on Amazon Prime, so I could spin back to anything I missed and regain the feeling in my posterior by occasionally getting up and down.
Aster's movies are known for being weird, but Beau Is Afraid sets a new level - and it is three hours long.
It stars Joaquin Phoenix as the title character - a man overwhelmed by anxiety because of a deep-seated mother complex.
This neurosis is made worse by the hellish scenes outside of the low-grade apartment block where he lives.
The movie opens on the day he is due to catch a flight to meet his mother. However, due to crazy circumstances, he misses the plane.
As his life continues to spiral out of control, he desperately tries to complete his journey.
My summary makes Beau Is Afraid appear much easier to follow than it is.
At every turn, something surreal happens - often based on the scare stories his mother (Patti LuPone) told him during childhood. For example, he really believes he will die if he ever has sex.
Anyway, his journey home includes staying with a strange family and their paint-eating teenager and bumping into a theatre group who are staging an elaborate play in a remote wood.
When he finally arrives, the dots still don't add up and the film just becomes weirder and weirder.
Aster's previous films Hereditary and Midsommar are offbeat but Beau Is Afraid has headed straight down self-indulgence boulevard.
To be fair, Phoenix gives his part his best possible shot but even he couldn't save it.
Aster says it would make more sense on a second showing. I shall not be allowing him that luxury.
Reasons to watch: Phoenix is always worth watching
Reasons to avoid: Incredibly weird and very long
Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: Yes
Nudity: Yes
Overall rating: 3/10
Did you know? Joaquin Phoenix performed almost all of his own stunts — jumping through glass, falling out of an attic and tumbling around violently in a bathtub.
The final word. Ari Aster: "It’s definitely a film that I think benefits from going back. I don’t think you quite know what it is until you’ve gone all the way through. I imagine that the second viewing would be hopefully rich in a way that the first one can’t. It’s designed to be wrestled with." Empire
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