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Beau Is Afraid (2023, D: Aster) S: Joaquin Phoenix

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Beau Is Afraid (2023, D: Aster) S: Joaquin Phoenix

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Old 01-02-24 | 06:48 PM
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Re: Beau Is Afraid (2023, D: Aster) S: Joaquin Phoenix

People who have mommy issues and anxiety resulting from it or just in general are going to feel this movie so hard. If you can't relate, it may not be as rewarding.

It has the same surreal vibes as mother! and personally I love anything mindfucky that activates your brain.
Old 01-02-24 | 07:15 PM
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Re: Beau Is Afraid (2023, D: Aster) S: Joaquin Phoenix

Originally Posted by Paff
I made this my "long-ass movie" choice for New Year's Eve. Still not quite sure what to think of it. It'll probably go down as another Magnolia in my book; a director who got a little full of himself after making an excellent film, and made one with a lot of subtext but forgot to make it an interesting film on the surface. I admit I was drawn in at first, to the dystopian world Beau was living in, and wanted more clarity on that. Was it truly the society he was living in at that point, or more of a representation of his paranoia? A full movie made in that world (but probably less than 3 hours) would have been great. Instead it just went to places, literally and figuratively, that I cared about less and less.
My sentiments exactly except that I watched it 12/30.
Old 01-03-24 | 08:40 AM
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Re: Beau Is Afraid (2023, D: Aster) S: Joaquin Phoenix

I watched this a few months ago. I can say that I loved how batshit crazy the first act was but, it ground to a halt when he stayed with the couple and their daughter. I did like third act when he made it back home. I’ll have to give it another watch. I do think the three hour runtime is too long.
Old 01-03-24 | 11:21 AM
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Re: Beau Is Afraid (2023, D: Aster) S: Joaquin Phoenix

Originally Posted by actionjackson29
I watched this a few months ago. I can say that I loved how batshit crazy the first act was but, it ground to a halt when he stayed with the couple and their daughter. I did like third act when he made it back home. I’ll have to give it another watch. I do think the three hour runtime is too long.
Same. I had a shitty seat, so I was very uncomfortable by the last hour of the movie, and instead of enjoying it, was mostly focused on when it would end so I could get up. This was a situation where I would have liked the movie broken into three parts I could watch different nights, like a mini-series or The Decalogue.
Old 04-21-24 | 08:33 PM
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Re: Beau Is Afraid (2023, D: Aster) S: Joaquin Phoenix

This movie was batshit brilliant. Imagine a move about Franz Kafka doing cover versions of Pink Floyd's "Mother", with a screenplay by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Terry Gilliam.

Loved it. Movies like this remind me why I enjoy movies so much. The medium is the message and also other things
Old 06-30-24 | 05:22 PM
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Re: Beau Is Afraid (2023, D: Aster) S: Joaquin Phoenix

Going to have to watch this a second time.
Old 08-24-25 | 11:54 AM
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Re: Beau Is Afraid (2023, D: Aster) S: Joaquin Phoenix

Well . . . I hope Aster is doing better after making this, because that was an utter waste of three hours of my life. Finally watched this while "home alone" for the weekend.

I like "thinky" films, but this was not that. It wasn't heady. The first hour or so was an interesting examination of anxiety and phobias, but that is followed by two hours hours of visually intriguing abuse. There is no message. There is no mystery. It is simply beating you over the head with mundanity and loses the bit that makes the first hour interesting. There is nothing left to think about after it is done. The journey isn't a journey, it is a meandering sequence of random fever-pitched dreams that do not come together to do anything.

I loved Hereditary and Midsommar. I am thankful I had not watched Beau is afraid until now, as I would have likely skipped Eddington which is damn near a masterpiece.
Old 08-24-25 | 12:04 PM
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Re: Beau Is Afraid (2023, D: Aster) S: Joaquin Phoenix

That reminds me. I tried to watch this about 6 months or so ago and never finished it. I made it about halfway and have not felt the need to go back. Maybe one day I will finish it, but I lean toward Abob Teff's criticism.
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Old 08-24-25 | 01:06 PM
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Re: Beau Is Afraid (2023, D: Aster) S: Joaquin Phoenix

Originally Posted by Spiderbite
That reminds me. I tried to watch this about 6 months or so ago and never finished it. I made it about halfway and have not felt the need to go back. Maybe one day I will finish it, but I lean toward Abob Teff's criticism.
Don't. I made it about two hours in last night and then finished it this morning. There is nothing worth coming back for after that point (unless you are the kind that needs the Parker Posey sex scene, in that case just fast forward to it).

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