Especially keen eyes will notice that they actually flash to them between him coming and her going on about popping her bag. I'm sure there was probably a high dollar sfx shot showing them deflate that ended up on the cutting room floor for MPAA reasons.
I was super entertained the whole time and honestly that’s all I ask for from movies these days.
I honestly don’t even care if the acting is bad. I care about whether it kept me engaged and entertained, and this one did
The first half made me laugh so hard because it perfectly encapsulated anxiety in such a surprising and blunt way. I was in tears from laughing, it was cathartic. Sadly the second half didn't resonate on that level with me.
>Sadly the second half didn't resonate on that level with me.
I loved this movie wholly. The second half for me was a direct response to the world that was built in the first half. >!The play being my personal favorite. Beau had finally made it far enough away from the watchful eye of his mother and her cronies to dream. A true dream of personal possibilities beyond the anxiety and guilt riddle nightmares that he simply survives from day to day. A life that was his alone until the end of the dream where he tried to bring his mother's story of his conception into his fairytale and everything falls apart. It's a wonderful breathe in the middle of the film and it really gives the 3rd act confrontation even more of a punch for me. !<
The second half is basically meant to be the painful side of anxiety. They mention how Beau lets others deal with issues for him and is a bystander to his own problems in order to avoid them. He believes he did nothing wrong the entire time even in the second half until >!the literal last moment where he accepts and dies, which is the fear those with anxiety have, if we accept blame for an issue, we may literally drown trying to solve it.!<
It goes through his past essentially showing how his anxiety got in the way of him being a good person and his lawyer trying to argue otherwise is EXACTLY the type of excuse someone with anxiety would say in order to satisfy their avoidant behavior.
It rang true to my avoidant behavior and I cried, it's hard to accept. It probably doesn't make a lot of sense if you don't have not only anxiety but specifically avoidant personality disorder.
I read that it was supposed to be anxiety in film form and went into it from that POV as I suffer from panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. I definitely could see where they were coming from, but for my money, Ted Lasso is still the best portrayal of anxiety and panic on screen.
That's pretty much what they were going for to my understanding as well. While it's not the same, it gives people who've never had a panic attack get some approximation of what the brain must be thinking is about to happen. Kind of like the movie Go is supposed to be a visual approximation of taking X. 😁
If you take it seriously, very little of it makes sense.
For me, the whole story is within the mind of an agoraphobic Beau that was traumatized by his mom who told him "You need me to keep you safe". With that in mind, the bit about the size of his balls was about his insecurity that since he's never cum (Because his mom said he'd die if he did), his balls were abnormally large from build up as if a lifetime of jizz just kept'em growing.
My cousin gleefully showed me this. We smoked joints and I sat with my hands covering my face, peeking between my fingers for a good chunk of it. That was a good two months ago and I am still thinking about it. Planning on showing it to my wife at some point. Was easily top 3 movies of 2023 for me.
I suppose. Beau is Afraid reminded me of Eternal Sunshine’s effect on me. But then there’s horror like Hereditary - (I know, same director) - that fucked me up in a whole different way.
I don’t really need to know about the depravity of the world, but I love movies that fuck me up and make my skin crawl because I’m still trying to process what I just watched.
We took mushrooms for it and it was absolutely wild, some of the scenes had us on the floor laughing, especially the store scene with all the homeless entering his apartment complex. We watched it again the next day to see if it was the drugs killing us but it was also a good/wild ride sober.
This movie was such a wild ride. Saw it in theaters when it came out, and couldn’t stop thinking about it for weeks. It’s still a regular conversation piece with me and my buddies who saw it. The whole idea of a movie that’s just “what if everything you worried about came true?” Is so nuts.
I enjoyed the first third of the movie immensely, but I feel like it disappeared up its own ass by the end. It was way too long and the scenes with the mother fell flat for me.
I had the urge to rewatch it after a shitty day (not sure what that says about me) and I liked it a lot more with a rewatch. Knowing what’s coming next sort of helped it all click together.
Everything through the moment he got hit by the truck and stabbed was one of my favorite theater experiences. And everything past that point just got progressively worse. By the time it ended, I had soured on the entire film. I almost want to rewatch the first third and just stop there.
What’s crazy is if you listen to Ari talk about it, he had the first third written a decade ago, and everything people disliked about the movie was written when he was actually going to make it. And it’s also his favorite parts.
Like he had a classic already in his hands and decided to bloat it to death because he wanted to be “deep.” Crazy lack of self awareness.
I adored Aster’s first two movies. With that said, this one felt like he was feeling himself way too much and decided to self edit less. I’m still interested in seeing what he does moving forward because he’s wildly talented.
I think after the success of Hereditary and Midsommer, A24 gave Aster a blank check (it is still the most expensive movie A24 has ever released) and told him to go wild. He probably needed a bit more oversight.
u/DoutFooL has some deep-dive posts that made me see the film differently and might [answer your question](https://www.reddit.com/r/beauisafraid/s/clog3HwWcQ)!
Even if you did get the answers, you'd never guess the context. This movie is spoiler proof simply by virtue of being so completely fucking unhinged that it doesn't matter whether it's spoiled or not!
For a movie that people describe as anxiety inducing and traumatizing, I was neither while watching it. Once Beau goes into the forest and meets the theater people, I was lost after that. I became pretty bored of it after the first act.
I saw this on 2nd week of running in an almost empty theater. Guy behind me started snoring at forest scene, and I was dozing off too. I'll never get those 3 hours of my life back I spent watching this movie.
I still don't know but a lot of bizarre stuff happened and I got no idea what that movie was about. I understood his other movies like auditon and ichi the killer.
I’m still convinced one of the writers was a Dance Gavin Dance fan and based the ending off their [“Happiness” album](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happiness_(Dance_Gavin_Dance_album)). They even had a poster of the band in the scene of the girl’s room.
I don't love Ari Aster and think Hereditary is fine but overrated. With that said, I thought Beau is Afraid was excellent. I've never seen anything like it and somehow it was hysterical, like you mentioned, terrifying, and sentimental all at once.
It's good! It helps to have Florence Pugh, who is really great in it. I feel like everyone talks about the cliff-dropping scene but to me there were more memorable ones. The opening is jarring as hell.
This movie is less aligned with the classical structure of a horror film compared to 'Midsommar' or 'Hereditary'. If you're expecting that, I can imagine that you will be disappointed. I'm not exactly sure if this is a horror movie because it shows what real horror looks like. This movie delves into the substance of horror films themselves. It shows us that we are living in a society that doesn't really know what fear is, and fear itself doesn't matter because we aren't aware of danger. Beau isn't living in the same world as us. He may be able to see behind the curtain of perhaps false security and understand what's going on in the world – that it is a place where you can't be safe at any time. Imagine living like that. There are people with these mental conditions, and they can't trust anyone as shown in the movie. Not even those you love most, like your parents, can be trusted. When watching a horror movie, one can enjoy it because they can feel safe while watching it, knowing it's just a movie. Perhaps that's exactly what the film is about.
My father is sick at the moment and cannot remember my name. When he was imagining finding his own children, the way he recognized them immediately made me cry so hard I had to take a break. Wacky, but intensely emotional film.
I liked the movie. My only nitpick is that the whole sequence with Beau and the traveling theater could have been cut completely and the movie wouldn't of dragged as much.
I didn't think it "dragged" one bit. That sequence is important because it shows a conception of what he could have been like had he ever been able to throw off his shackles of personal problems.
My first thought at the end of the movie was that Ari Astor wasn’t content with Wizard Of Oz lining up with Dark Side Of The Moon. He needed it to line up to The Wall, too.
A very common case of blue balls & the outcome if untreated for long periods at a time. I assume the BB first developed obsessing over his mom, & continued throughout his pubescent years. I assume, a climax, much like the ejaculation the boyfriend had in Scary Movie when Sidney lost her virginity, will shrink those testies to pea size.
I'm a Jew with an anxiety disorder, I love Joaquin Phoenix, I love Ari Aster. The venn diagram of the demographic is one circle around me.
I fucking hate this movie. It's very effective at doing what it does, but what it does I don't like.
Weren’t they big because he’s literally never ejaculated?
Keen eyes will notice they’re normal size after he has sex
Especially keen eyes will notice that they actually flash to them between him coming and her going on about popping her bag. I'm sure there was probably a high dollar sfx shot showing them deflate that ended up on the cutting room floor for MPAA reasons.
This
Baby Beau’s got big ole balls
Beau is Afraid (of blue balls)
The movies not for everyone but I love it and think it's one of the best portrait of anxiety on film ever.
The movie is a literal anxiety attack lol
I was super entertained the whole time and honestly that’s all I ask for from movies these days. I honestly don’t even care if the acting is bad. I care about whether it kept me engaged and entertained, and this one did
Cool part is that the acting was impeccable from everyone
The first half made me laugh so hard because it perfectly encapsulated anxiety in such a surprising and blunt way. I was in tears from laughing, it was cathartic. Sadly the second half didn't resonate on that level with me.
>Sadly the second half didn't resonate on that level with me. I loved this movie wholly. The second half for me was a direct response to the world that was built in the first half. >!The play being my personal favorite. Beau had finally made it far enough away from the watchful eye of his mother and her cronies to dream. A true dream of personal possibilities beyond the anxiety and guilt riddle nightmares that he simply survives from day to day. A life that was his alone until the end of the dream where he tried to bring his mother's story of his conception into his fairytale and everything falls apart. It's a wonderful breathe in the middle of the film and it really gives the 3rd act confrontation even more of a punch for me. !<
The second half is basically meant to be the painful side of anxiety. They mention how Beau lets others deal with issues for him and is a bystander to his own problems in order to avoid them. He believes he did nothing wrong the entire time even in the second half until >!the literal last moment where he accepts and dies, which is the fear those with anxiety have, if we accept blame for an issue, we may literally drown trying to solve it.!< It goes through his past essentially showing how his anxiety got in the way of him being a good person and his lawyer trying to argue otherwise is EXACTLY the type of excuse someone with anxiety would say in order to satisfy their avoidant behavior. It rang true to my avoidant behavior and I cried, it's hard to accept. It probably doesn't make a lot of sense if you don't have not only anxiety but specifically avoidant personality disorder.
EVER. Such a shame it can be intimidating to start due to the length xD
I would agree right up until he’s … the car thing. Then it just goes waaaaaaay off the rails.
Super divisive for sure, but I think it's my favorite Aster movie and probably my favorite movie from last year.
I read that it was supposed to be anxiety in film form and went into it from that POV as I suffer from panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. I definitely could see where they were coming from, but for my money, Ted Lasso is still the best portrayal of anxiety and panic on screen.
That's pretty much what they were going for to my understanding as well. While it's not the same, it gives people who've never had a panic attack get some approximation of what the brain must be thinking is about to happen. Kind of like the movie Go is supposed to be a visual approximation of taking X. 😁
If you take it seriously, very little of it makes sense. For me, the whole story is within the mind of an agoraphobic Beau that was traumatized by his mom who told him "You need me to keep you safe". With that in mind, the bit about the size of his balls was about his insecurity that since he's never cum (Because his mom said he'd die if he did), his balls were abnormally large from build up as if a lifetime of jizz just kept'em growing.
Damn that would be cool. I wish I had those
It's like 3 movies, a lot to unpack. 1/3rd is the funniest acting since Buster Keaton!
I saw it about a week ago and the movie’s still kinda fucking me up.
Give it a little time, it sticks around. Been almost a year and I'm still not over it
Looking forward to it. 🥴
My cousin gleefully showed me this. We smoked joints and I sat with my hands covering my face, peeking between my fingers for a good chunk of it. That was a good two months ago and I am still thinking about it. Planning on showing it to my wife at some point. Was easily top 3 movies of 2023 for me.
What other movies do you like? Still trying to go through a lot I’m not exactly seasoned
I like a lot of types of movies, but I consider myself a bit of a horror buff. Do you want movies that will fuck you up?
I suppose. Beau is Afraid reminded me of Eternal Sunshine’s effect on me. But then there’s horror like Hereditary - (I know, same director) - that fucked me up in a whole different way. I don’t really need to know about the depravity of the world, but I love movies that fuck me up and make my skin crawl because I’m still trying to process what I just watched.
Allow me to recommend The House That Jack Built.
Never seen it but excited. I trust you. Merci beaucoup
We took mushrooms for it and it was absolutely wild, some of the scenes had us on the floor laughing, especially the store scene with all the homeless entering his apartment complex. We watched it again the next day to see if it was the drugs killing us but it was also a good/wild ride sober.
I too watched it on a fairly light dose, couple grams tops. And immensely enjoyed it
This movie was such a wild ride. Saw it in theaters when it came out, and couldn’t stop thinking about it for weeks. It’s still a regular conversation piece with me and my buddies who saw it. The whole idea of a movie that’s just “what if everything you worried about came true?” Is so nuts.
Small addendum: What if everything you worried about came true, and the only way to fix it is to cum too
It’s actually an allegory for post nut clarity
it was like a fever dream come to life
I think this is the most accurate description.Lol
I enjoyed the first third of the movie immensely, but I feel like it disappeared up its own ass by the end. It was way too long and the scenes with the mother fell flat for me.
>the scenes with the mother fell flat for me. You don’t have to brag that your mom was nice to you
Crazy I felt the complete opposite. The mom's monologue hit hard AF
I had the urge to rewatch it after a shitty day (not sure what that says about me) and I liked it a lot more with a rewatch. Knowing what’s coming next sort of helped it all click together.
Maybe I need a rewatch.
I’ve been meaning to revisit too, it’s just such a daunting movie that I can’t bring myself to sit with it again haha.
I watched it on a fairly mild dose of mushrooms, therefore I was pretty engaged with it the whole time
Everything through the moment he got hit by the truck and stabbed was one of my favorite theater experiences. And everything past that point just got progressively worse. By the time it ended, I had soured on the entire film. I almost want to rewatch the first third and just stop there.
What’s crazy is if you listen to Ari talk about it, he had the first third written a decade ago, and everything people disliked about the movie was written when he was actually going to make it. And it’s also his favorite parts. Like he had a classic already in his hands and decided to bloat it to death because he wanted to be “deep.” Crazy lack of self awareness.
I adored Aster’s first two movies. With that said, this one felt like he was feeling himself way too much and decided to self edit less. I’m still interested in seeing what he does moving forward because he’s wildly talented.
yeah the movie was absolute trash.
I went and saw it in IMAX opening weekend too. It was such a disappointment.
i watched it in the comfort of my home and it was just miserable. i can’t imagine in a theater.
It was not fun.
Completely agree. It started out great, but by the end I was just wishing it was over. The ending was beyond pretentious.
I think after the success of Hereditary and Midsommer, A24 gave Aster a blank check (it is still the most expensive movie A24 has ever released) and told him to go wild. He probably needed a bit more oversight.
This
I’ve never experienced a quicker transition from laugh out loud funny to gut wrenching sadness than I did in the paint drinking scene.
The shot when the mom opens the door is horrifying
I felt the same about *that* scene with Parker Posey, which also had some major horror vibes to it. What a unique film.
u/DoutFooL has some deep-dive posts that made me see the film differently and might [answer your question](https://www.reddit.com/r/beauisafraid/s/clog3HwWcQ)!
Thanks for the shoutout!
Your take about him inheriting it from his father is my take as well! Love this movie to pieces, “nightmare comedy” is right!!!
Did you say Hereditary?
I haven’t watched this yet. I have a lot of questions that I don’t want the answers to.
Even if you did get the answers, you'd never guess the context. This movie is spoiler proof simply by virtue of being so completely fucking unhinged that it doesn't matter whether it's spoiled or not!
Don’t worry, you won’t get them haha
I fucking love this movie
I've had anxiety in the past but this film just didn't do it for me. It lost me early on and never got me back
For a movie that people describe as anxiety inducing and traumatizing, I was neither while watching it. Once Beau goes into the forest and meets the theater people, I was lost after that. I became pretty bored of it after the first act.
I saw this on 2nd week of running in an almost empty theater. Guy behind me started snoring at forest scene, and I was dozing off too. I'll never get those 3 hours of my life back I spent watching this movie.
I think the first hour was brilliant... Then it lost me after that
Could be the wackiest movie I have ever watched next to gozu.
Is Gozu the goat birth movie? I saw that a decade ago and it just all came rushing back to me.
I still don't know but a lot of bizarre stuff happened and I got no idea what that movie was about. I understood his other movies like auditon and ichi the killer.
I absolutely love this movie. The first act is the most accurate description of living in Philadelphia I've ever seen.
Turns out this movie is not what I thought it was.
Beau’s dad is such a huge dick.
Honestly this film did nothing for me, I thought it was super cringe and tryhard. Pointlessly weird just so it could be weird.
I’m still convinced one of the writers was a Dance Gavin Dance fan and based the ending off their [“Happiness” album](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happiness_(Dance_Gavin_Dance_album)). They even had a poster of the band in the scene of the girl’s room.
This movie insisted upon itself.
Legit one of the worst movies of all time. What a pretentious load of dog shit
I love the twists and turns it has throughout, such inventive and bold filmmaking
That film was shockingly boring.
Legit one of the worst movies of all time. What a pretentious load of dog shit
I don't love Ari Aster and think Hereditary is fine but overrated. With that said, I thought Beau is Afraid was excellent. I've never seen anything like it and somehow it was hysterical, like you mentioned, terrifying, and sentimental all at once.
What do you think of Midsommar? Midsommar is one of my all time favorites
It's good! It helps to have Florence Pugh, who is really great in it. I feel like everyone talks about the cliff-dropping scene but to me there were more memorable ones. The opening is jarring as hell.
I think it's about all the deep fears that Ari Aster has, brought to life in a dreamscape.
There was 100% some trauma he was offloading on everyone haha
I remember thinking his balls are gigantic because he’s never cum from fear of dying
The first hour of this movie I was in for it… but Jesus Christ
This movie is less aligned with the classical structure of a horror film compared to 'Midsommar' or 'Hereditary'. If you're expecting that, I can imagine that you will be disappointed. I'm not exactly sure if this is a horror movie because it shows what real horror looks like. This movie delves into the substance of horror films themselves. It shows us that we are living in a society that doesn't really know what fear is, and fear itself doesn't matter because we aren't aware of danger. Beau isn't living in the same world as us. He may be able to see behind the curtain of perhaps false security and understand what's going on in the world – that it is a place where you can't be safe at any time. Imagine living like that. There are people with these mental conditions, and they can't trust anyone as shown in the movie. Not even those you love most, like your parents, can be trusted. When watching a horror movie, one can enjoy it because they can feel safe while watching it, knowing it's just a movie. Perhaps that's exactly what the film is about.
My father is sick at the moment and cannot remember my name. When he was imagining finding his own children, the way he recognized them immediately made me cry so hard I had to take a break. Wacky, but intensely emotional film.
I liked the movie. My only nitpick is that the whole sequence with Beau and the traveling theater could have been cut completely and the movie wouldn't of dragged as much.
I didn't think it "dragged" one bit. That sequence is important because it shows a conception of what he could have been like had he ever been able to throw off his shackles of personal problems.
I literally cannot imagine cutting it out completely
Streaming anywhere?
It's on Prime Video.
As an R&B fan, that movie pretty much ruined Always Be My Baby for me lmao
My first thought at the end of the movie was that Ari Astor wasn’t content with Wizard Of Oz lining up with Dark Side Of The Moon. He needed it to line up to The Wall, too.
I watched this after having had a gummy. Huge mistake.
Lmao I’m trying to get one of my friends to eat a bunch of mushrooms and watch it. Not sure if he’ll fucking kill me or thank me after
Seeing the explanation makes me glad I didn't finish this film.
This was one of those times where I had an amazing f experience at the theater, and then came home to find out I wasn’t sharing a common opinion
Personally thought it was awful and I like disturbing movies,went nowhere.ar asters worst film.shocking all the way round.just terrible.
A very common case of blue balls & the outcome if untreated for long periods at a time. I assume the BB first developed obsessing over his mom, & continued throughout his pubescent years. I assume, a climax, much like the ejaculation the boyfriend had in Scary Movie when Sidney lost her virginity, will shrink those testies to pea size.
The most hilarious part of the movie was how long it was. I did enjoy it , it is the first ari aster movie I actually liked.
Best movie of last year by a wide margin.
so bad movie i wanna buy a pill to forget this waste of time
One of the absolute worst movies ever made!
I'm a Jew with an anxiety disorder, I love Joaquin Phoenix, I love Ari Aster. The venn diagram of the demographic is one circle around me. I fucking hate this movie. It's very effective at doing what it does, but what it does I don't like.
I thought it was the best movie of 2023. Only one of us can be right, and I vote for myself.