Beau is Afraid

There seems to be no doubt that Ari Aster suffers from 'mommy issues'. This theme was first explored in Aster's debut film, Hereditary, but now the director takes a closer look at the subject in his new film, Beau Is Afraid, which gets all up in arms about Oedipal complexes. With its three-hour running time, the film goes over the top and unfortunately loses itself along the way.

Aster's first two films - Hereditary and Midsommar - were hugely successful on the horror scene and have helped position indie production company, A24, as a leader in American indie cinema. Together with Robert Eggers and the Safdie brothers, Aster has helped make A24 the new kids on the block of American cinema. Expectations have therefore been high for his new hilarious thriller, which explores the dysfunctional relationship between protagonist Beau and his manipulative mother Mona. Beau Is Afraid has an interesting premise, but ends up including too many distractions along the way. The film simply becomes too ridiculous, losing itself and the viewer in its madness.

Beau is a middle-aged loner living in a poor and dangerous neighbourhood. He is afraid of just about everything, and is often threatened by homeless people, muggers, and tattooed violent psychopaths. He has to visit his mother, which triggers a cavalcade of obstacles that make up the film's three-hour plot - and this is where the film breaks down. Beau's long odyssey becomes too messy an affair, overwhelmed with big WTF moments that take away from the seriousness of the dramatic narrative.

Beau's anxiety is expressed in an almost expressionistic way in the film universe. His surroundings are pure chaos, and the film exists in a fluid state between reality and Beau's interpretation of it. The poor neighbourhood he lives in is portrayed as overly menacing, with the homeless looking more like zombies. It's a dirty, depraved cityscape reminiscent of Travis Bickle's view of humanity. Beau's fears can seem either justified or completely irrational, depending on how reality is interpreted.

However, the film also has good things going for it. Beau Is Afraid is at its best when the narrative focuses on the mother/son dynamic and explores Beau's troubled childhood. The drama is most compelling in these sequences, and the uncomfortable tension between Beau and his mother make up the film's best moments. In particular, the use of Mariah Carey's pop hit, Always Be My Baby, in a rather uncomfortable scene was an amusing and wacky moment. The song is placed in a perverse context that gives the lyrics a whole new Oedipal flavour:
"You'll always be a part of me,
I'm part of you indefinitely,
Boy, don't you know you can't escape me,
Oh darling, because you'll always be my baby"
Mariah Carey's romantic ballad cannot be heard the same way again.

Beau Is Afraid has an interesting starting point, but is plagued by too many plot twists that may work on a thematic level, but appear clumsy in terms of dramaturgy. Ari Aster now has three films under his belt, of which Midsommar remains the best, and Beau Is Afraid reveals the director's weaknesses.