If the idea of a surrealist black comedy horror film written and directed by Ari Aster and starring Joaquin Phoenix somehow isn’t enough to pique your interest in Beau Is Afraid, then perhaps a second helping of promotional material that delivers on such an idea will be handy in that department, and that’s just what A24 has given us in the form of trailer number two for the upcoming nightmare epic.
Starring Phoenix as the eponymous, anxiety-riddled antagonist, Beau Is Afraid follows the plight of Beau, a man who has an unprecedentedly fraught relationship with his helicopter parent of a mother, who raised Beau on her own. After her sudden passing, Beau makes the decision to travel back to his childhood home. A brave choice, considering the unrelenting supernatural forces that seem to at least have a passing interest in ending Beau’s life.
The previous trailer already did most of the legwork in the film’s very important fever dream department, so this second trailer has chosen to tease us with a bit of narrative meat, and judging by the short glimpse we were offered this time around, it looks like Beau has every right to be as afraid as he is. Beyond what seems to be apparent romantic trauma for our protagonist, there also appears to be a very particular, seemingly hereditary reason that Beau never met his father, which may or may not end up explaining his mother’s obsessively overbearing behavior towards him.
Whatever the answer to that mystery may be, it’s just another great reason to plug ourselves back into the mind of Ari Aster, which we’ll all get to do when Beau Is Afraid releases in theaters on April 21.
Published: Apr 4, 2023 09:27 am