Beau Is Afraid (2023) Movie Review

Beau is Afraid is the new film from exciting director Ari Aster and stars a very in-form Jaoquin Phoenix as Beau and we follow Beau as he goes through the worst periods in his life.

To describe this movie would be doing it an injustice because I can’t explain this at all. Ari Aster has created the most unique and fever dream movie I have ever seen.

A director that is so comfortable in his ability as a writer and director was given an opportunity to create whatever was in his mind without any interference because this is such a singular vision that only Ari Aster truly knows what this movie means.

Confusion was the visceral feeling at the very end. Is that bad? No. Confusion that has meant this movie is played over and over again in my head because I am still trying to figure out what I have seen.

The unique voice and perspective of Ari Aster is one to be celebrated. Unfortunately this is one of those movies that will be a hard sell to make to the general public. It’s strange, artsy, pretentious in a good way, confusing, uneasy, but yet a spectacle.

Not in the blockbuster way but in just pure creativity. Joaquin Phoenix had yet another incredible performance.

This is a long movie and you do feel the time ticking because of the unorthodox way this is directed and it kind of lost me towards the end.

I actually don’t know what else to really say. You will go through the motions with this. But at the end you will leave the cinema with a sense of admiration that someone created a film this absurd yet fascinating.

Watch it. Because you can read and watch all the reviews you want - but to actually experience it is a must. A movie which you’ll leave either loving it or hating it.

Beau is Afraid gets a 7.5 out of 10