The first Beau Is Afraid trailer has arrived, revealing a look at Joaquin Phoenix in Ari Aster's new film. Formerly known under the working title Disappointment Blvd., Beau Is Afraid is the third feature film from the macabre mind of Ari Aster, who previously wrote and directed 2018's Hereditary and 2019's Midsommar. Billed as a surrealist nightmare comedy, Beau Is Afraid has already received two eerie posters showing Phoenix's main character aging over several decades. Now, the first full look at the film has arrived.
After a trailer announcement accompanied the second Beau Is Afraid poster, the first trailer arrived, as promised, by A24. Clocking in at over two minutes, the official Beau Is Afraid trailer provides the first full look at Ari Aster's new film, as Phoenix's eponymous Beau embarks on a nightmarish odyssey of horrific and hilarious proportions, set to the tune of "Goodbye Stranger" by Supertramp. Watch the trailer below:
So...What Is Beau Is Afraid ACTUALLY About?
Based on the first Beau Is Afraid trailer, Ari Aster's third film absolutely lives up to its description as a “decades-spanning surrealist horror film set in an alternate present.” The trailer also elaborates on the basic premise of the film, which finds the extremely anxious Beau setting out to visit his overbearing mother, before being delayed by various obstacles, both grounded and surreal. In terms of its overall themes, Beau is Afraid appears to be about its titular character coping with the fallout of his childhood trauma, with the nightmarish dreamscape representing his greatest fears and neurosis. This would continue a career trend for Aster, whose first two films both deal with the effects of familial trauma.
It would appear that Beau Is Afraid is taking inspiration from or is perhaps just a feature-length extension of Ari Aster's short film, Beau, which follows the late Billy Mayo as a neurotic man whose visit to his mother's house is delayed by a series of increasingly sinister events. In terms of its plot and themes, Beau Is Afraid heavily resembles Aster's 2011 short. This time around, the incomparable Phoenix is leading the way alongside Armen Nahapetian playing young Beau, who looks strikingly similar to the Oscar winner, so much so that many have mistaken him for a digitally de-aged version of Phoenix. They are supported by a strong supplementary cast that includes Nathan Lane, Patti LuPone, Amy Ryan, Kylie Rogers, Parker Posey, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Hayley Squires, Michael Gandolfini, Zoe Lister-Jones, and Richard Kind.
Is Beau Is Afraid A Horror Movie?
Though Ari Aster has primarily made a name for himself with two A24 horror movies, Beau Is Afraid can't be as easily categorized. The distinctive director himself has described his latest work as a "nightmare comedy" and decidedly not horror. The Beau Is Afraid trailer does feature some horror-tinged elements, such as the flashback to Beau's mother, though the film appears to have more in common with surrealist films like David Lynch's Eraserhead or Charlie Kaufman's I’m Thinking of Ending Things than Aster's own work. Regardless of whether Beau Is Afraid is a horror movie, it should still be filled with Aster's signature existential dread when the film releases in theaters on April 21.
Source: A24