‘Beau Is Afraid’ Review: Joaquin Phoenix Takes His Mommy Issues On An Odd-yssey That Is Bonkers Even By Ari Aster’s Standards

Imagine a New York where construction workers tap dance on steel girders high above the city, sorta like that famous photograph you’ve seen a million times, and where kindly landladies who once played Carnegie Hall might tutor a young Holocaust refugee to a Julliard scholarship, and breezy jam sessions do away with generations of friction between races, genders and sexual identities. You’d go there, right?

J. Kim Murphy Armen Nahapetian wants the world to know: “I’m not AI.” The 16-year-old actor is gaining notice, but not only for playing a teenage version of Joaquin Phoenix’s titular worrywart in Ari Aster’s epic dark comedy “Beau Is Afraid.” He added the disclaimer to his Instagram bio because people keep thinking he’s not a real person, but instead a digitally de-aged Phoenix. “I went to the movie theater a few weeks ago, and one of the employees was pointing at the poster saying, ‘Oh, my God, you’re real!’” Nahapetian recalls, speaking with Variety. The main poster art features four versions of Beau, all posing in shimmering gray satin pajamas. There’s a Phoenix wearing a farmer’s hat, a Phoenix sporting male pattern baldness, a Phoenix buried under wrinkles — and a smooth-faced Nahapetian. The theater employee’s confusion may seem absurd, but the reasoning makes sense: Here are three Joaquin Phoenixes; by inference, the fourth must be one too, right?

We’ve known, for a while now, that Martin Scorsese is a big fan of Ari Aster. Several years ago, the legendary director raved about Aster’s second film, “Midsommar.” Now, as Aster receives some of the harshest critiques of his relatively young career, thanks to his third film, “Beau is Afraid,” Scorsese is there to back him up, yet again.  READ MORE: ‘Beau Is Afraid’ Review: Joaquin Phoenix Guides Ari Aster’s Hilarious, Horrific, Despairing Nightmare, Hellish Mom Comedy During a Q&A alongside Ari Aster (via A24), Martin Scorsese talks about the young filmmaker’s career, up to this point, and how he believes Aster is one of the best directors working today.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot points for “Beau Is Afraid,” currently playing in theaters. In the final act of Ari Aster’s three-hour anxiety trip “Beau Is Afraid,” Beau, played by Joaquin Phoenix, arrives very late for his mother’s funeral and finds himself reunited with his childhood love Elaine, played by Parker Posey. It’s an awkward reunion for the two, but the two wind up in bed together. Just as they are about to have sex, Elaine pulls out her phone and the intro to Mariah Carey’s 1995 hit “Always Be My Baby” begins to play. Speaking over Zoom, the film’s music supervisor Jemma Burns said Aster told her during their first meeting, “’If there’s one thing you do for me on this film, I have to have this Mariah Carey song.’”

Ari Aster’s Beau Is Afraid did decent business in its second week, expanding from four screens to well over 900 for a gross of $2.7+ million and a cume of $3.14 million. The A24 film starring Joaquin Phoenix has a $2.8k per screen average and no. 9 spot. It’s a weekend with a wide range of specialty films in a market that’s improving by some measures — some more product, some stronger openings — but still hard to read amid the blockbusters.

Gladiator is one of Russell Crowe‘s biggest movies and most recognizable roles. However, he recently revealed that he had some hesitations about the part.

Beau is Afraid (★★☆☆☆), Ari Aster’s ambitious third feature film, in which I weighed how unprofessional it would be to walk out of a three-hour screening early, convinced as I was by that juncture that I was not enjoying myself and would likely not enjoy myself for the duration of the movie.It was about 20 minutes in.If you like vivid nightmares driven by existential depression and crushing grief — which, is to say, if you’re looking for a movie that acts as a mirror for the encroaching suffocation of American life in 2023 — you will love Beau is Afraid.Unlike most horror films that seek to provoke a feeling of escapism from the drudgery of daily life, Aster has drilled deep into the fragile psyche of a nation reeling from two decades of outsized culture war trauma and buttered up those sensitive neuroses with cayenne pepper.That may sound appealing to some viewers. I personally don’t understand watching a movie to be further reminded why everything is on fire with possibly no hope of recovery or redemption.

After posting giant per screen numbers at four theaters last weekend, A24’s Beau Is Afraid  jumps to 926 for the distributor’s third outing with Ari Aster. It’s a very different film from his horror favorites Hereditary and Midsommar but one the distributor hopes will cement the director’s place as a modern auteur.

Joaquin Phoenix has said that he once “just started screaming” on the set of Beau Is Afraid to prepare for a specific scene.Directed by Ari Aster (Hereditary, Midsommar), the black comedy horror film follows mild-mannered but paranoid-ridden Beau Wasserman (Phoenix) who embarks on a surreal odyssey to return home to his mother.Speaking during an A24 podcast interview (via Variety), Phoenix said he was left “spinning in a panic” because Aster wanted to shoot an intense scene where Beau takes a bath in a single take. In order to feel “free” while filming the scene, the actor resorted to screaming to “fully humiliate” himself beforehand.“I’m a little reluctant to say this, because it sounds so fucking stupid and just like actor shit, but I remember… what I did before was I did the scene, but I wasn’t really volatile,” Phoenix recalled.“I was still nervous. I was still… In some way, I was controlling a little bit.

Ari Aster has made a career out of the horror and twisted comedy of anxiety. Regardless of where each individual audience member is in their life or the experiences they’ve had, this is what makes films such as “Hereditary” and “Midsommar” universally loved and relatable.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Joaquin Phoenix “just started screaming” on the set of Ari Aster’s “Beau Is Afraid” before filming one of the nightmare comedy’s most intense scenes. During a podcast interview for A24, the Oscar winner and Aster remembered filming a scene in which the eponymous Beau is taking a bath. Aster wanted to shoot the scene in one take, which got Phoenix “spinning in a panic.” The actor said it was important he felt “free” enough while filming so the scene could “reveal itself however it does when it does.” “I’m a little reluctant to say this, because it sounds so fucking stupid and just like actor shit, but I remember… what I did before was I did the scene, but I wasn’t really volatile. I was still nervous. I was still… In some way, I was controlling a little bit. I was controlling what people thought about me. I didn’t want to let people down. And it was like new crew were early on set. And I remember just realizing I had to do something that was fucking stupid, and I just so didn’t want to do it, but I just knew.”

Ari Aster‘s “Beau Is Afraid” isn’t even in theaters yet, but the “Midsommar” and “Hereditary” already has his fourth film lined up. World Of Reel has the scoop: Aster will start shooting his next movie, “Eddington,” this summer, with Joaquin Phoenix set to lead its ensemble cast.

Filmmaker Ari Aster has oedipal issues. The artist has deeply complicated and unresolved issues with his mother that go back to his earliest movies (to this day, Aster won’t really talk about his mother in the press and has hinted at a troubled, rocky relationship).

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Director Ari Aster says it took about six months for Joaquin Phoenix to sign on to star in his new movie, “Beau Is Afraid.” “You get on your hands and knees and beg,” Aster jokes about his first meeting with the Oscar winner. “He’s the best. He’s the greatest. He’s the prince. And those eyes. He could be so naked, so exposed, and he’s funny. He’s a funny guy.” Aster (“Hereditary” and “Midsommar”) and his cast celebrated the Los Angeles premiere of the A24 film Monday night at the DGA in West Hollywood. “It’s when I first saw ‘I’m Still Here’ that I knew I needed to work with this guy,” Aster said. “One, it’s such a funny film, and two, that performance is really a brilliant comic performance. But it’s also because as a gesture that movie is suicidal. What he was doing with his own name there is so crazy and funny and sick. It’s like a sick thing to do. Since then, I’ve known I’ve wanted to work with him.”

Joaquin Phoenix and director Ari Aster have brought their new film Beau Is Afraid to L.A.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Poor Beau. Nearly half a century on Earth, and he’s never really lived. Sure, he was born — that much director Ari Aster depicts from Beau’s point of view at the outset of his wildly self-indulgent and frequently surreal third feature, “Beau Is Afraid,” lingering long enough to witness the infant’s umbilical cord being snipped — but what has Beau done with his life since then? Can it be said that he ever really developed an identity apart from his successful single mom, Mona Wasserman, who haunts the film for the better part of three hours before finally revealing herself? Not since “Psycho” has an off-screen mother loomed so large over a film’s protagonist, played here by Joaquin Phoenix, cowering from the world. The Hitchcock comparison could be misleading, since Aster (who helmed indie studio A24’s two most successful horror movies, “Hereditary” and “Midsommar”) makes a surprising tonal shift away from traditional nightmare material for this deranged road trip, which follows Beau cross-country — and through several substitute families — to face his intimidating Jewish mom.

Joaquin Phoenix kept a low profile at a screening for his highly anticipated new movie Beau Is Afraid.

Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix on the set of the upcoming Joker sequel – Joker: Folie à Deux.The pair can be seen dancing on the staircase that was made famous in the first Joker movie, which is situated near Shakespeare Avenue in the Bronx, New York.Both are wearing smudged clown make-up and can be seen dancing, smoking and laughing in the shots together. There is also one when they appear to be kissing.Gaga will play Harley Quinn in the upcoming film, which is rumoured to be a musical.

In short order, indie filmmaker Ari Aster has become one of the most exciting writer/directors on the planet. Following the one-two punch of two amazing, psychologically bruising horrors, “Hereditary” and “Midsommar,” the filmmaker returns with his most ambitious film, “Beau Is Afraid” which stars Joaquin Phoenix, is a dark, surreal, black comedy nightmare odyssey.

Mere days away from the release of “Beau is Afraid,” it appears that fans of Joaquin Phoenix have another 2023 film to get excited about, as Apple has announced the theatrical release date (yes, theatrical) for the upcoming Ridley Scott film, “Napoleon.” READ MORE: Ari Aster Is Developing A New Project With Joaquin Phoenix & Says His Next Film Will “Almost Certainly” Be A Western According to Variety, Apple is teaming up with Sony to release “Napoleon” in theaters on November 22, just in time for the annual Thanksgiving holiday rush that hits cinemas.