A be-all-end-all question for some films, but not one this movie cares to answer, besides saying yes to both. Its hard to talk about.. For me, my initial viewing experience was akin to emotional whiplash. Alongside Mona constructing Beau's life as a test of filial piety, there is forbidden knowledge locked inside Beau's mind, represented by a recurring dream. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. To even try to. But in context, this scene takes something that shaped Beau's life and distills it down to a penis joke. The viewer, also watching Beau's trial in a crowded movie theater, has been observing and judging Beau's actions without his knowledge since the beginning of the film, just as his mother has been. If that sounds to you like too (self-)serious a reading for a film this openly self-depracating, it does to me, too. Shes even paying his therapist to tell her what he whines about! They know what Im working on. Intriguingly, I was unconvinced if we could rely on Beaus eyes when he discovers in the third act that Roger works for Mona, but according to Lane, that was always Asters intention. When the daughter intentionally kills herself in front of Beau, the mother blames Beau, and he flees to the woods with the army veteran giving chase. reveals she faked her death. During extended flashbacks of a cruise Beau went on, we learn Elaine was the first (and only?) By Aya Tsintziras. But the real payoff is the chance to, to quote Evil Dead II, swallow your soul.. Everyone in Beaus life who took even a passing interest in this sad sack did so out of a fiduciary obligation and a mothers machinations. The protagonist of the film is an elderly man named Beau (Joaquin Phoenix). The doctor then smacks him on the ass, and Beau at last cries for the first time to his mothers relief. The 3 things a girl needs to tackle is not the 3 thing a boy does on adolescence. His journey takes him through different versions of family: WASP-y suburbanites with a son-shaped hole to fill; a found-family traveling theater troupe made up exclusively of orphans; a potential romantic partner. Meanwhile Jades mother Sue (Miranda Otto) suspects Mia of drug use. Especially in the first section of the film, I was thinking about Tati, he said. There is a recurring trope among paranormal pop culture that the dead cannot lie. Then he hits fast-forward. Mona and her attorney put Beau on trial for all of the times Beau has hurt her, using video evidence secretly obtained throughout his entire life. After all, Beau's last moments are spent in view of the masses as they literally determine whether he will sink or swim; when it's all over, the film tellingly holds on the crowd filing out of the stadium as the credits roll, just when the real-world audience in a movie theater would be doing the same. What Does 'Beau Is Afraid's Poster Tell Us? All Rights Reserved. The ending of Ari Aster's 2023 horror movie Beau Is Afraid sums up the sad story of Joaquin Phoenix's character and gives people a lot to think about . All Rights Reserved. [Editors note: This story contains majorspoilers for Beau Is Afraid.]. The boat explodes, killing Beau. However, several themes are explored throughout the film, including the side effects of medication, the darkness underlying urban and suburban life, how judgment and isolation create fear, the spectrum between anxiety and reality, and more. Shocked at what he has done, Beau quickly flees from the house in a daze with his expression frozen in fear. He is afraid of almost everything in the world: from loud noises to interaction with other people. Beau is Afraid is the latest mind-bending film from Hereditary and Midsommar director Ari Aster, with Academy Award winner Joaquin Phoenix in the lead role. Although Talk to Me is an original story, it pays homage to cinematic tropes, and real-world rituals, culminating in a finale that warrants further examination. Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! Fresh off his directorial hits "Midsommar" and "Hereditary," Ari Aster returns with a surreal horror-comedy in A24's "Beau is Afraid," which hit theaters on April 21. Stop reading now if you haven't seen it and don't want to know. The reactions are so immediate, so superficial in so many ways. This contributes to Beaus sense of alienation and the lack of intimacy in his life as the dream of a happy family continues to elude him. V.C. Hes got kind of corny dad humor, and he thinks hes hip by saying, My dude! Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Parker Posey, Kyle Rogers, Amy Ryan, Nathan Lane, Michael Gandolfini. She locks him in an attic, where he discovers a long lost brother and a father that is a giant, monstrous penis. After going under, Beau is never seen again. Beau is the definition of an unreliable narrator, a protagonist whose perception of the world around him is limited and often skewed. So it is that Beau stands before a tribunal of everyone in the world hes ever known, and as it turns out theyre all strangers or on moms payroll. Mona raised Beau to only have one important woman, or person in his life, and shes it. Theyre always the first in line.. The trailer for Ari Asters newest film, Beau is Afraid, was recently released and has everyone asking the same question: What the heck is this film about? As Beau moves through the world, he also confronts and tries to process his trauma. We never get a sense of perspective on the world outside of Beau, because he likewise cannot. The poster also has a younger adolescent Beau in the forefront, who only appears in the trailer in shots on a beach vacation and having brief intense encounters with his mom at that age. In the final moments, Mia is surrounded by darkness before walking towards a pinprick of light in the distance. I dont know what people will think of it, but its the film Im proudest of making, he said. The foundation for that argument is established early in the movie, moments after Beau leaves his therapists office, and comes across a crowd of giddy people watching a suicidal man standing on the ledge of a building. By Alissa Wilkinson @alissamarie. And what the hell did any of it mean? Talk To Me has a nihilistic take on the afterlife. The two lovers reconnect and have sex in Mona's bedroom. What Is Going on in Beau Is Afraid? - Collider Its the nature of the internet right now makes it a weird time to create work. Starring Joaquin Phoenix in the title role in a film written and directed by Ari Aster, Beau is Afraid is full of strange moments and eccentric characters amid one man's journey to self-discovery, but nothing quite compares to the thing that Beau discovers in his mother's attic. Beau Is Afraid is a 2023 American surrealist tragicomedy horror film written and directed by Ari Aster, who also serves as a co-producer. But Im happy now., Beau Is Afraid takes the kind of adventurous big swings that few American movies will even attempt these days as they risk alienating large swaths of audiences. Beau is riddled with fear and paranoia that someone is stalking him, trying to break in and harm him. Culture Movies Reviews What the hell is going on in Beau Is Afraid? (Takashi Seida/A24 Films) By Matt Brennan , Josh Rottenberg April 19, 2023 12:04 PM PT If you've just watched Ari Aster's new horror-comedy "Beau Is Afraid," you probably have a few questions.. girl that Beau ever kissed when they were about 14. By Megan McCluskey Updated: June 14, 2023 4:50 PM EDT | Originally published: April 21, 2023 2:04 PM EDT Beau Is Afraid is now available to rent at home. Thanks to a falling chandelier, Mona has died. When Beau encounters a literal manifestation of his repression toward the end of the movie, its very stupid, Aster said. Afterward, a cycle of abuse or a type of addiction occurs with Mia meeting a similar fate to her mother. How To with John Wilson Is One of HBOs Best Shows So Why Is It Ending? He bares his soul only to end up looking ridiculous. Though the film avoids establishing any notion of Heaven or Hell, there is effectively no distinction between these ghosts and the classic depiction of demons. Warning: This post contains major spoilers for Beau is Afraid Beau is Afraid's ending is one of the wildest and strangest finales of the year. He isolates himself in his room and fills his apartment with booby traps. Major Bottleneck: The LPGAs Fifth Waters Down theAchievement, How to Pitch Stories and Articles to IndieWire. If it goes beyond that time, the spirits will attempt to reside in the hosts body, as young Riley (Joe Bird) discovers. In a moment of true cosmic horror, he glimpses Beau Is Afraid's ending; forbidden knowledge neither he nor a first-time viewer have the tools to understand. This is echoed in the WASP-ier seeming family of Roger and Grace, and their refusal to accept the death of their elder son. Roger and Graces stalling tactics, which refuse to allow Beau to leave their slice of suburban paradise, likewise resembles the Lotus Eaters in The Odyssey, a diverse collection of inhabitants on an island whose primary source of food is a lotus fruit that makes them happily apathetic to the outside world. Mona is aware of the therapy-language Beau has attempted to use to explain their relationship. Thats because the reality of Beaus life does not matter an iota to Beau or his movie. This is what happens with Riley. A24 Horror Movies Ranked From Worst to Best, Beau Is Afraid Ending Explained: What The Surreal Movie Means, Mia Goth: MaXXXine 'Is the Best Script' of Ti West's A24 Horror Trilogy, Beau Is Afraid Forced Nathan Lane to Overcome Fear of Ari Aster Movies, How Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Puts a Fresh Spin on the Franchise, Enter the Reese's x Blue Beetle Sweepstakes for a Chance to Win Limited-Edition Peanut Butter Cups. But in an ambiguous shot, the audience instead witnesses Mia crashing into oncoming cars, and dying on the pavement. It was nice to have too much. The approach ensured that even if Beaus journey was weird, it maintained the internal logic of a fictional space. The character Cole (Ari McCarthy), whose brother Duckett (Sunny Johnson) stabs him before taking his own life, says the spirits eventually tire within the body of the living, and will be expelled. For sure. However, Aster originally led his woeful anti-hero in a very different fate. This article helps interpret some of the movie's most important moments. Beau is tasked with returning home for the funeral by an angry lawyer played by. Plus, the other spirits inhabiting Riley appear to taunt both Jade and Mia, nearly daring them to kill the boy. Andrews Dawn Recap: Not Everyone Survived the Finale Grade It! Theres no answer other than for our meek Oedipus to play out his entire psychodrama on the only person that matters: a mama whom he murders with his bare hands. And if this Oedipus is raised to believe he has no father, then there is only one person left for him to kill in order to complete Sophocles tragedy. Aster has (some) answers. Ive already said way too much here, the 36-year-old New Yorker said about a half hour into a conversation with IndieWire at the Cherry Lane Theater in the West Village. TIFF 2023 to Open with The Boy and the Heron, Hayao Miyazakis First Movie in 10 Years. Beau Is Afraid - Wikipedia 'Beau Is Afraid' Ending, Explained: What Is The Meaning Of The Film The middle section of "Beau Is Afraid" is a classic nightmare. Its there that he finds himself on trial for the apparent mistreatment of his mother, as her lawyer (Richard Kind) stands next to her and reads out his crimes. I think every once in a while he says something and you think, Thats probably closer to who he really is. He seems very upbeat. But thats a natural starting point for parsing the many puzzling aspects of a movie that rewards audiences willing to engage with its labyrinthine design and many provocative turns. ". Eventually, Beau darts out of the home after the daughter kills herself and her mother thinks he did it. (Image credit: A24) SPOILER WARNING: The following article gives away just about all of the most important details from Beau Is. Mona has Beau's defense attorney killed, and Beau loses the trial. Up there is also Beaus actual father, a giant, 12-foot penis and testicles with arms and teeth. This story was originally published in. Movies Ari Aster doesn't want to explain Beau Is Afraid The director of the new Joaquin Phoenix film on animation, nightmares, and all those signs. The cosmic horror inversion most prominent in Beau Is Afraid, and most central to understanding its aims, is of the all-important convention of forbidden knowledge. Lane puts a finer point on it when he told us that its an epic tale of guilt and codependency. And it is definitely about the guilt a mother can elicit from the dutiful son. In Beau, he doesnt even get out of his apartment before he cancels his trip. More importantly though, we eventually learn that Roger and Grace were hired by Beaus definitely not-dead mother to gently compel him to stay in this house with a doting maternal figure in Grace and see if he would take the bait of that supposed ideal. Ultimately, at the end of the film, Mia is about to sacrifice Riley to set him free from tormenting spirits by pushing his wheelchair into careening traffic. The sense of darkness encroaching on suburban domesticity plays like an homage to Austrian auteur Michael Haneke, and when Beau discovers that he can view his entire life on the familys TV (even fast-forwarding to the end), it seems like a nod to Hanekes famous provocation Funny Games where a pair of house-invading criminals actually rewind a scene to ensure they get away with it. He soon falls asleep on the couch and wakes up to the sound of a woman entering the house it's Elaine (Parker Posey)! And later in life, we discover that his therapist (Stephen McKinley Henderson), his shoddy doctor and faux-adoptive father in Roger, and his gentler replacement mother via Grace, were also paid to manipulate Beaus extreme bouts of guilt. In the woods, Beau encounters an acting troupe, which kicks off a 20-minute animated segment of the film as Beau reimagines his life. There were a few different bibles, for product names, world-populating ideas. Conversely, the rest of the 179 minutes we spend with Beau are incredibly unreliable, particularly for those looking for definitive answers about what is real and what actually happened to Beau. His first sexual experience, in an absurdly poetic twist of the knife, echoes his mother's role in the story instead of his father's. Beau harbors a disturbing Oedipal complex that extends to his fixation on Elaine (Parker Posey), a woman he falls for as a child who he encounters again as an adult in his mothers home. Hopefully, it feels in some ways like a mirror, Aster said. But we think we can explain it. By Sam Adams April 21, 20234:58 PM A24 In this article, Beau is a-spoiled. This could easily hint at the entrepreneur narrative as it follows him through the stages of his life. How Beau Is Afraid Actually Makes Sense To Me - Screen Rant If the name of a band or a product made me laugh, I would write it down, he said. Director Aster told IndieWire that the arena's resemblance to a cinema "feels in some ways like a mirror." Rhea, while in ghostly freeform, likewise tells her daughter that Mias dad Max (Marcus Johnson) is lying about her suicide, and the note she left behind. The reality-bending film follows the titular Beau Wasserman (Joaquin Phoenix), a paranoid, long-suffering, and intensely anxious man afraid of nearly everything. Yet Beau remains stoic, unable to cry because he has nothing to fear. Aster knows he might have this effect on people and has been bracing for it. Those lying liar pants on fire will constantly manipulate and deceive, but even the ghost of a bad person is compelled to tell the truth.Talk To Me plays with this audience expectation. Beau's father is non existent at this time. In fact, the one devoutly religious character Daniel (Otis Dhanji) is shown as being exceptionally vulnerable to the powers of the spirits even when playing by the rules, and he is never shown calling upon his faith for protection. Beau runs into the street naked, and a truck hits him. Beau heads home from his therapist to wander a street that looks like a post-apocalyptic variation on The Warriors, with unruly, violent characters barreling through the grimy block around Beaus cramped apartment and eager to break in. They all condemn Beaus weakness as he struggles to find the words that would make sense of his life. RELATED: 'Beau is Afraid': Release Window, Cast, and Everything We Know so Far About the Joaquin Phoenix-Ari Aster Film. Not literally, of course, although the. These encounters prompt him to examine what it is he wants and why he doesn't have it, and in response, he revisits formative memories and tries to break behavioral patterns. Try to interpret it, and you'll find many possible ways to understand it, both literal and metaphoric. Its the only moment in the movie where Aster allows his protagonist to feel some measure of catharsis, though it doesnt last long. He then comes upon a motorboat that he takes out on the water, through a tunnel, and . It is from there that baby Beau emerges, calm, collected, perhaps even happy. The film pulls away before either can gain clarity, but the implication that this nightmarish odyssey is barreling toward a pre-set outcome has left its mark. Further, when Mia experiences the reverse possession with the spectral girl in the hospital, she sees Rileys soul restrained and tortured, seemingly devoured by a whole host of ghosts. He added that the final stadium showdown, shot entirely on a green screen, resulted in the costliest part of the $35 million shoot. The implications of Always Be My Baby struck Aster as so critical to the scene that he put the song in there even before getting the rights. Aster often uses metaphors to portray those themes, so perhaps the core of Beau is Afraid is a lot like the short film. As embodied by Joaquin Phoenix in a permanent state of shock and dread, the character inhabits an apartment surrounded by hooligans and street urchins all too eager to overtake his apartment, which has been infested by deadly spiders. His mind and body are unblemished. By keeping Rileys body weak, the inhabiting spirits can feed on him with the final feast occurring upon his death. Beau Is Afraid Ending Explained: Where Does Beau's - CINEMABLEND Her deflection suggests she definitely hired Elaine, although it becomes a question as to when. The myths, mess, and creepy magic of Ari Aster's latest nightmare. Having been warned by Grace to stop incriminating himself, to his and our bewilderment, she directs him to turn the TV to a specific channel.

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