This trailer looks affected to the level of scaring me away. I hated oh so much Synecdoche, NY and I'm Thinking of Ending Things. Cursed the filmmaker afterwards. Which was too bad cause both had lots of actors I enjoy.
Saw this today. Liked the first two hours, which were Kaufman-esque. The final act wasn’t quite as strong, but still engaging. I found I'm Thinking of Ending Things infuriating, but this I enjoyed.
Utter masterwork. Don't listen to the negative nellies, this is an amazing celluloid experience that is needed to be seen in the theatres. Please go beyond the typical criticism against Aster (self-indulgence, mother issues etc.). Beau is Afraid goes way beyond his previous work and sets up as one of the best films of the last 25 years. The three hours go by quickly and I wish it was even longer! I am not going into any details, there is a million things to discuss. IMO the film is about how we deal with the pressures of this world, the non-stop battle we partake in our world. We all must traverse this uncaring and unforgiving space and some survive while others get swallowed up. Obviously in Aster's world this viewpoint moves into absurdity and dystopia but our world remains. Judge not lest ye be judged. Please go see this film if you can. Thank you.
It's by far his best. I found the previous ones a bit derivative and obvious. This one is truly original.
I watched it on Thursday. There was a lot I liked about, but I felt a couple of the stops in the journey went on for too long (mainly the Nathan Lane / Amy Ryan house). There is a lot to unpack and I'm not sure if Aster was trying to get too many thoughts across or if I'm missing the common links. Without giving too much away, I'm interpreting that Spoiler: spoilery speculation the minute he steps out of the psychiatrist's office and take the pills without medication, the film eases into his fantasy / headspace and we can't trust anything. But a well-thought out argument could make me see otherwise. It definitely sticks in the brain and can be open to more interpretations. I love the last shot and its implications.
I keep waffling on whether I want to see this or not. Didn’t care for his other movies but this looks different enough that I’m curious. A few friends saw it and didn’t love it but told me that the 3 hours don’t feel like a slog. So I’ll probably catch it sometime soon
I feel that this is an important movie, especially in these times, that we (as movie- and cinema-lovers) need to watch at the cinema and support. That being said, I did not love all of it but Joaquin Phoenix's performance is a tour de force, and at least the beginning is amazing. The second, third parts and the epilogue, not so. But it is worth it the price of admission to the movie theatre.
We saw it, and need to see it a second time, because I believe that the second viewing will be a completely different experience. Spoiler For instance, it's entirely possible that everything about his life in the city was the creation of his insane mother, specifically to torture him. We need to see it again to look for clues.
I absolutely loved I'm Thinking of Ending Things, couldn't take my eyes off it for a moment. Amazing film. Looking forward to this one a lot of it's getting comparisons.
Very good movie! So full of symbolism that it's hard to even take the ending as the true result. The only thing right now that to me would seem to cover all bases is if Spoiler the whole thing was a play. It seemed some future parts were shown during the ff>> of channel 78 which would indicate the ending was already determined and the arena was just a performance for a new audience.
I'd like to see Aster direct something he hasn't written. I really liked Heredity but Midsommar could have spent a little more time in the editing bay and I wouldn't have minded. I haven't seen Beau yet but it sounds as though it may suffer the same problem.
I think it's important to see it in the theatres because it deserves your full attention. The amount of detail alone in the background is worth the price of admission. For the story, I think it's very simple. Spoiler: What I think Beau Wasserman has become a person swallowed up by the world from his botched delivery to his manipulated life and finally to his end. It is a satire on our exaggerated life cycle. All his films follow this path of cycles, the place of memory and thoughts, of family and legacy. So much to unpack. Looking for clues is hopeless, there are endless wormholes you can fall into. For example Aster uses Ray Liotta references throughout the film, Beau flies on Air Liotta, he has to go to Corinna, Corinna etc. What does it mean? Nothing he just loves Ray Liotta who would've passed away during the production of this film. Water is a major motif throughout the entire film, hence his last name "Wasser" meaning water. Again it's just another layer of the story. I'm sure some future FA students will write their masters thesis on many aspects of this work haha. For me, it's just a continuation of film as an art form that many others have created before them. I think it's a call to arms for communication and the return to humanity we are losing to technology and big pharma or any profit-seeking monstrosity vying for our souls. We are surrounded by violence on our streets, on our TV screens. Many of us are afraid to live. Beau's fears are real. People want to attack us, ransack our homes, shoot us, and no one wants to listen to our fears. Just take more pills, record it for TikTok, lose yourself in the mass hysteria. In the film, the highlight is the play. It reveals our dream of working for family and for the greater good. But that can be taken away and even if you can get it back, it was all a lie. Our jouney is just an entropic adventure, spiralling down the drain. Debbie Downer for sure but I think Aster is beyond solipsism, I think he wants us to see the nightmare of our world and actually care about people. At the end of the film, as the crowd exits the stadium after viewing Beau's demise, either you file out like them or you get the message and want to think the world is better than that. Aster is a true artist, reflecting the world as he sees it, for better or worse. Now go see it in the theatre!!
Spoiler What puzzled me was Nathan Lane (though I didn't see Amy Ryan) 's appearance in the collage of "employees" (right above Parker Posey) at the end of the timeline of his mother's life/business successes/ads featuring him as a boy. I didn't notice anyone from the forest play, though. She seemed to not just succeed in making her son paranoid, but made a good living by helping to make all of society paranoid. How much of him thinking that she was micromanaging his life was just the result of that paranoia and how much (surely at least some of it) was real I guess remains to be determined by the individual viewer. Still kind of confused by what his mother meant by "I sincerely doubt it" when he reminded her that Parker Posey was one of her employees, at least up until her death. I paid about $40 for the US import edition of the BluRay, so if A24 pulls another Midsommar and releases a deluxe elaborately packaged extended director's cut any time soon, I'm gonna be at least mildly annoyed.
The first half of the film was laugh-out-loud brilliance. The rest, I’m not sure what it was but Aster is definitely an interesting cat. Can’t wait til his next film.
I think it's important to see it in 4K UHD on a big ass TV then, if we're talking details and lazer-focused attention, which is probably how I'll see it since this film interests me.
