Ari Aster's Beau is Afraid (formerly Disappointment Blvd.)

So a rewatch of Hereditary the other day (A24 did a $6 for 6 horror movies deal via its streaming setup -- I was very happy to catch Saint Maud at last) made me wonder "Well what's Aster up to now anyway" and that's how I learned that this is his next film's title, it's due next year, and what the hell at this cast:

Joaquin Phoenix
Nathan Lane
Patti LuPone
Amy Ryan
Kylie Rogers
Parker Posey
Stephen McKinley Henderson
Denis Ménochet
Hayley Squires
Michael Gandolfini
Armen Nahapetian
Zoe Lister-Jones
Richard Kind

...is it a musical? Aster allegedly calls it a horror comedy, which, how would I be able to tell the difference, really. Filmed in Montreal, and I guess this was a short promo clip from earlier this year though it's supposedly a fan edit from something else:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t9-oNRjwqY

Yeah, that looks like clips from You Were Never Really Here.

That makes a lot more sense.

Changeup in title!

https://www.indiewire.com/2022/12/ari-aster-a24-beau-is-afraid-joaquin-phoenix-poster-1234791453/

And we have a poster.

https://thefilmstage.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Beau-Is-Afraid-810x1200.jpg

Oh.

“Midsommar” director Aster previously said his next film will be a four-hour-long “nightmare comedy” when “Disappointment” was officially announced in February 2021. While the plot remains under wraps, the film was described as an “intimate, decades-spanning portrait of one of the most successful entrepreneurs of all time.”

Yeah, fuck you. Congratulations in advance on your awards, though.

And indeed per that description:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CnCahSBL344/

Trailer on Tuesday.

*scratches chin*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuiWDn976Ek

The use of New Yorker font feels like a warning. "If you proceed beyond this point, it's on you."

"The Mind behind"

damn, dude is making movies just with the power of his mind now

The New Yorker font makes the rest seem very Walter Mitty. But good to see Nathan Lane do a big movie role.

hahaha this looks fuckin wild

good to see the critics of ilx getting hung up on fonts and ad copy

Big Charlie Kaufman vibes here.

Big Charlie Kaufman vibes here.

Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry, the New Yorker...all items very high on my "oh, FUCK OFF" list.

we know, don't see it

wow unperson, I gather you do not like anything about this movie. perhaps you'd like to post more about how much you hate this well before it ever comes out.

Hey this looks neat

Feels like a weird direction for him to go in, but I'm cautiously optimistic. I've liked all of his other stuff so far. I suspect a big Kaufman influence here. Based on Aster's prior work I'd expect this to have a lot more rough and interesting texture than Gondry's work, that feels like an unfair comparison.

this looks very fun

hoping more richard kelly than charlie kaufman

I’ve not seen his other movies but this looks fun

Per a report: "rated “R” for “strong violent content, sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use, and language.”" Another day at the office!

Got some "I Heart Huckabees" vibes from that trailer.

Reviews are all over the place. Sounds akin to a few other infamously bonkers batshit indulgences, like "Southland Tales" or something.

hoping more richard kelly than charlie kaufman

― imago, Tuesday, 10 January 2023 17:43 (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

if it can remotely step to that towering masterpiece we're in for a treat

lol, it scans like "Southland Tales" plus Charlie Kaufman.

I have never seen an Ari Aster movie! Maybe this will be the first.

I think I've read three reviews now that use the phrase "big swing."

Well I saw it.

In sum:

https://media.tenor.com/U3GSJNoPsM8AAAAC/elmo-sesame-street.gif

Oh and BTW I am not kidding when I say this -- it's three hours long.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psV-DcsnU1Y

great picks

hoping i love this bc the negative reviews are clearly out for revenge

This movie has arcs like it's an anime or something. The first arc really threw me off at first, I was like "wtf, is this movie super reactionary!?" It's like an exaggerated rural Republican fever dream of a dangerous big city. I mean, it had to be satire, though, right? But it goes so far with it I don't know if I could really say it earned it.

Mm, yeah. Being here in SF and all I can’t say that made me very sympathetic to the film out of the gate, precisely for the reasons you mention.

Beau is afraid, where do his intentions lay

This was a very silly and tiresome movie.

Finally saw this yesterday. I was the only one in the theater! Many laugh out loud while cringing moments. The four acts (urban hellscape, suburban family, woodland theater troupe, and mother's house) varied so widely in tone that they seemed to me like four separate movie ideas stitched together. And I thought the epilogue was a letdown. But overall I liked it, more or less. Preferably less, it didn't need to be three hours long.

The partially animated sequence is visually stunning, but the whole woodland theater segment seems superfluous.

The PERFECT film for Mother's Day. See it with a female relative you resent!

Not seen this yet but I'm told by a cineaste friend (and sometime poster) that this is the darkest and scariest film they have ever seen, and to approach it with extreme caution owing to Ari Aster being a master of psychological terror and a 'prick'

Friend has not seen Hereditary obviously.

They have! But they say this one goes way further into fiendish primal psych terror idk

Been dragging my heels on this, down to three more days in the theatre, and I don't think I can get out to see it.

hoping more richard kelly than charlie kaufman

it's much more charlie kaufman. basically synecdoche new york

I'm told by a cineaste friend (and sometime poster) that this is the darkest and scariest film they have ever seen

it's a comedy. quite dark at times, but not scary at all

I mean, it had to be satire, though, right?

it was obviously satire

Ari Aster being a master of psychological terror

sorry to knock on your friend but they are extremely psychologically weak if they think this is true

hoping i love this bc the negative reviews are clearly out for revenge

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Friday, April 21, 2023 12:52 AM (one month ago) bookmarkflaglink

i think you'll like it. i understand people hating it, but i can forgive a movie with a few "bad" scenes if the good ones are extremely good, and the high points made it worth it. joaquin phoenix's performance is incredible

also the way this movie uses nathan lane and richard kind was just genius

music was amazing too... mariah carey "always be my baby" during the parker posey sex scene had me dying

lot of 30rock style prop jokes in this one:
https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/wye3crgnvj4.PNG

please laugh

This was indeed disappointing, but boy did I let out some hardy LOLs during the first quarter of the movie. Loved the Bill Hader cameo, birthday boy stab man and "Don't mind if I do" graffiti.

That said, I got diminishing returns the longer this went on.

Man I completely forgot Hader was in this. What was his part?

He's the voice on the phone when Beau calls his mom and he answers her phone - "I'm so sorry bro" lol

i loved this, i thought it was so fun

just a guy having the worst week/life ever

The first half where hes trapped in his apartment is really good but I felt the movie didnt know what to do with itself after that

idk i think nathan lane and amy ryan kidnapping him and installing him as their surrogate son was my favorite part. DRINK PAINT WITH ME

movie is about being trapped in both your own projections and the things people have projected onto you since you were born, and the movie's entire landscape is those projections, pretty amazing feat imo

DRINK PAINT WITH ME

this scene is amazing and legit haunting

Saw some interview with Aster with him repeatedly saying the movie was designed to be a divisive provocation while admitting his own disappointment that people didn't like it. Well ... yeah. Them's the breaks.

The bravura choreography of urban chaos in this was amazing, I get that you could read it as knuckling under to a Fox-poisoned view of the world, but once you see that the entire movie is lovingly/horrifyingly depicting an anxiety-poisoned view of the world I think you can really admire it, it's the only thing that's ever shown me a convincing picture of what a city looks like to people who look at a city and see DANGER.

so a local guy i follow on IG because i sat next to him at the bar once and he asked me to just posted this (he works in the film industry):

"Joaquin Phoenix is here today... We start filming Ari Aster's new film next week... Should be interesting, "a Western noir ensemble movie set during the COVID pandemic". I'll keep y'all updated when it comes out."

maybe this is already common knowledge? idk

"It's about a guy desperate to film a three hour shrug of a film when the world is shut down."

"Hm. Bold."

cowboys with coughs

Welcome to EDDINGTON. Ari Aster’s contemporary western starring Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone, Luke Grimes, Austin Butler, Deirdre O'Connell, Micheal Ward and Clifton Collins Jr. is coming soon. pic.twitter.com/yLDMyeebTz

— A24 (@A24) March 12, 2024

My initial reaction was "Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone as leads, wow, I'd watch that no matter what it is" and I looked it up and there already HAS been a movie in which they were the leads -- Parker Posey is in it too -- a 2015 Woody Allen movie called "Irrational Man" I have never, ever, ever heard of. I wonder if it's any good?

I'm sure it's fine but I'm also fine with throwing most of Woody's projects down the memory hole

I haven't seen a Woody Allen movie since ... "Bullets Over Broadway"? "Small Time Crooks"? I think the latter, and it was so stupid I think I knew it was it for me (at least as someone who was never a big fan to begin with, tbh). Anyway, the other day on some social media a clip was circulating of Scarlett Johansson, Javier Bardem and Rebecca Hall, and I was, like, wtf is this, is this a sketch or something? Forgotten straight to video movie? And one of the comments revealed that, no, this was a real Woody Allen movie, a hit, and I thought: oof.

An Oscar winner, at that

There's a 2013 Woody Allen movie with Louis CK in it! Also an Oscar winner!

[touches earpiece] we’re receiving reports that director woody allen has a large filmography of movies starring a vast array of a-list celebrities. stay tuned to ilx for further developments on this breaking news story

yeah i mean the dude is famously prolific, and until recently a-listers lined up to work with him. he made at least one movie per year from 1982 to 2017, and the only reason he didn't release one in 2018 is that amazon shelved a rainy day in new york (starring timothee chalamet!) in the wake of #metoo. he's released two movies since, but one starred wallace shawn, and the other one is in french.

but yeah, he did have that 2009-13 run with Oscar noms for Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Midnight in Paris, and Blue Jasmine

Blue Jasmine was the last one I saw (it was good). I was done after that.

Wait wtf is this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PpEpK4Ko-g

Given the direction this thread has taken I've decided this is the new Woody Allen movie

i said this somewhere on ilx but the first 3/4 of this was like the best wes anderson movie i've ever seen. the sets and design were amazing really and i can't imagine how much time they must have taken with it considering nobody watched this movie. the apartment. the crazy house. the woodland set. but then it turns into a charlie kaufman movie and i didn't like it. when he gets to his mom's house. but i did like her house. and the wall of her old ads. which was also very wes anderson. and the sex scene was insane and funny. but the end sucked. i even liked the flashbacks on the ocean liner. also very wes anderson. but more hypnotic than wes anderson.
but mostly i just can't believe that he had to make his face look like that for an entire movie. imagine how many takes they had to do! that must have hurt. he should have at least won a Most Painful Face award or something.

it lost me in the woods scene but up until that it was amazing

i liked the woods!

I turned it off somewhere around the woods stuff. Combination of “it’s getting late” and “I’m not feeling this”. I meant to finish it out later, but never found the motivation.

Idk what to think about it. I respect the big swing at least.

to be honest, it took me a week or more to watch the whole movie. i would watch, like, 20 minutes at a time.

I don't even know if I liked the end or not, I felt like I started the movie trying to watch it thoughtfully and it just kept punching me in the face until I had to stop thinking and just let the movie play out in front of me

yeah its best to just drift with it. actually, the woods stuff was the part that i just kind of drifted along with the most. i just liked the vibe. it definitely reminded me of dreams i have had.

even the city stuff felt like that to me. dreams i've had. bad dreams. i thought the tub thing was inspired. spider poster on the hallway wall. gets in tub. insanity ensues.

i was surprised that there was very little talk about the movie on this thread. eephus, your old post above somewhere is the longest about the actual movie. and i like your post. but maybe everyone just shrugged like ned and moved on.

DRINK PAINT WITH ME

that was a humdinger. that scene.

I was more than a little hi while watching this

i can't imagine seeing this in a movie theatre. that must have been torturous. but in a way it would make sense to be tortured while watching the whole thing. you can feel a little of what is on joaquin's face. this was probably the best thing i've seen him in. i'm not a big fan in general. he's never been in a movie i love but he has made a TON of movies that i've never seen. i did like Gladiator a lot. he was pretty good in that. as a slimy snake of a thing. he looked good in that movie too. he's a total ham. don't let him do shakespeare. he'll ham that shit up.

it was painful! i was mostly onboard until the last act, though, i'm with you on that. jp is a ham, but i don't count that against him when he's entertaining. he's pretty good in the james gray movies i've seen. his sadsack loser in two lovers was a practice run for beau is afraid

I liked him recently in You Were Never Really Here which isn't completely different from this character (and probably Joker, but I haven't seen that one).

i always meant to watch YWNRH because i heard good things but i was never in a bleak enough mood. it looked bleak.

It is very bleak, but good.