In arguably the best kind of April Fool’s joke, audiences who bought tickets to today’s Alamo Drafthouse retrospective screenings of filmmaker Ari Aster’s folk horror classic “Midsommar” were instead given something better.
That audience became the first to see early screenings of Aster’s latest film “Beau is Afraid” two weeks before its release. The three-hour epic is set in an alternate present in which Joaquin Phoenix plays an extremely anxious but pleasant-looking man who has a fraught relationship with his overbearing mother and never knew his father.
When his mother dies, he makes a journey home involving wild supernatural threats. Nathan Lane, Patti LuPone, Amy Ryan, Kylie Rogers, Parker Posey, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Hayley Squires, Zoe Lister-Jones, Richard Kind and Michael Gandolfini co-star.
Reactions are already pouring in and are gushingly positive, though this is an audience primed for this type of film as opposed to a more general one, and thus is likely to skew more positive. Check out a sample of reactions below:
“As is the case with his work, Ari Aster’s ‘Beau is Afraid’ will polarize. A mixture of dark humor, psychological introspection, and discomfort, it is near impossible to look away as Beau processes his past, present, and future. On a technical level, well done… For anyone thinking ‘Beau is Afraid’ isn’t a horror film, um…nah. It’s not traditional in any sense, but there are some horrifying wtf parts.” – Sarah Musnicky, Vital Thrills
“Unspeakably long, and the last act feels borderline impossible to unpack. It is also visually astounding, and the first Ari Aster film to put me in full-on tears. A mommy issues epic to be approached with spectacular caution. I don’t know what to say.” – Alison Foreman, Indiewire
“i don’t exactly know what to make of #BEAUISAFRAID but that’s certainly part of the point. it’s an oedipal hero’s journey that turns comedy and horror on their heads, morphing into something uniquely human. the ending is brilliant, i’ll need 5-7 business years to take it all in.” – Lex Briscuso, Slashfilm
“A daring mix of humor & horror. Part gorgeous existential nightmare fuel, part pitch-black comedic odyssey, it’s an astounding pillar of artistic genius. If you’re not left hyperventilating, you better check your pulse to make sure you’re not dead.” – Courtney Howard, The AV Club
“‘Beau is Afraid’ is a lot to take in one sitting but I really dug it! Ari Aster’s three-hour-long anxiety-centered epic is all about throwing the kitchen sink at the screen and see whatever deranged, paranoid thing sticks. Phoenix is incredible, LuPone steal the show!” – Ryan McQuade, Awards Watch
“A complexly layered, Freudian tragicomedy. It’s kind of like being sandblasted in the face with anxiety for three hours. Phoenix shines, of course, and there’s a lot of brilliance to it, but I really need a massage and maybe a meditation retreat.” – Jeff Ewing, Looper
“A surreal epic into the collapsing mind of its title character. You’re not going to get it the first time you see it. You’ll say to yourself ‘woah, what is this?’ all throughout its over 2hr runtime. Nice to see an original movie on the big screen.” – The General
Emma Stone was on Hand for a Q&A with Aster afterwards. The film has made headlines for its lengthy 179-minute runtime which is not unexpected in the wake of “Midsommar” which had a 148-minute theatrical and 171-minute director’s cut. Aster also helmed the acclaimed horror film “Hereditary” starring Toni Collette and Alex Wolff.
