Beau Is Afraid

I am a huge fan of Ari Aster's previous films, Hereditary and Midsommar, so I was already planning to see Beau Is Afraid but, when my nephew expressed a strong interest in it as well, I got tickets for both of us to see it last night at the Broadway.  This might not be the best movie to see with your 18-year-old nephew but it certainly gave us plenty to talk about on the drive home!  Beau Wasserman (Joaquin Phoenix) is a middle aged man who is in an almost constant state of anxiety.  He goes on an epic (literally) journey to get home so that his recently deceased mother, Mona Wasserman (Patti LuPone), can be buried in a timely manner according to Jewish custom.  Once he arrives home, however, he must confront his mother over the years of psychological abuse that she inflicted on him and then ultimately be judged, by her and the audience, for his response.  The reviews have been very divisive for this surrealistic black comedy and, although I really loved the allusions to Odysseus in the second act and to Oedipus in the third, I did sometimes find the pacing to be incredibly tedious (it has a three-hour runtime and, in my opinion, it could have achieved the same end in two).  It is extremely thought-provoking (which is something I will always appreciate in a movie) and my nephew and I had very different interpretations of certain scenes (I am sure that Aster intended it thus).  As previously mentioned, we had a very spirited discussion afterwards and he actually changed my mind about something with a vigorous defense of his thesis!  I also really enjoyed the world-building because one is never really sure if what is happening is real or a product of Beau's imagination and the images on the screen reflect this, whether it is the urban hellscape of Beau's daily life, the despair under the facade of suburban domesticity found with his surrogate family, the gorgeous stop-motion animation depicting his journey, or the spacious modern architecture (which actually represents a claustrophobic nightmare for Beau) of Mona's estate.  Finally, both Phoenix and LuPone give brilliant and riveting performances which kept me invested in the chaos (several in the audience left the theater before the end).  Needless to say, this will not be for everyone (especially if you are not a fan of Aster's previous work) but I liked it for the most part (as did my nephew) and I definitely respect Aster's ambitious swing for the fences!