Beau Is Afraid by Ari Aster

wip

trying to sort out writing notes from my phone why is this so complicated

Alright here we go: Beau Is Afraid (dir. Ari Aster, 2023. Watched at Wolf Kino in Berlin) was very, very different from Ari Aster's first two feature films. Hereditary and Midsommar were both very good and very scary, and even though they had surreal elements (think Toni Collette on the ceiling) they felt kind of real, or anchored in reality, overall. Beau Is Afraid opens on a kind of postapocalyptic version of New York and only becomes more surreal during its 3-hour running time. It gets so far-fetched that is turns some of the horror into a kind of what-am-I-looking-at comedy. I was sort of expecting it from skimming through David Ehrlich's review a few months ago, but nothing could have fully prepared me for this: it makes Everything Everywhere All At Once look pretty normal in comparison.

I really liked it, also liked some parts more than others (the first wild chapter in New York, the one after in eerie suburbia, the aesthetics of the animated section) but I must admit that after 3 weeks of comparatively little sleep due to having friends over and then being over at friends, I was pretty exhausted by the end and had trouble staying focused and engaged. (I do think that this is on me not the film, C didn't experience this at all and found that the three hours flew by.) I was also very confused by the end, and if you were too, I can recommend this Indiewire explainer (with Ari Aster!) and this other take on Den Of Geek. They help make sense of the whole thing and I can see why critics are loving the film+it's the one that Aster is the most happy with!