Beau Tem Medo

O primeiro segmento no apartamento / na rua / na loja é uma paranoia filmada de forma genial. Com arrepios e boca aberta, fui testemunha da introdução de um óbvio filme do ano, um filme que esperei por uma década inteira, que me levou a um transe cinematográfico com cada cena, edição, expressão ou movimento de Joaquin Phoenix. O segundo segmento, mais leve e mais engraçado, ainda manteve a fasquia alta e despertava curiosidade sobre o que viria em seguida. Mas a partir do segmento na floresta, o filme começou a perder tudo com o que me conquistou em termos de enredo. Tornou-se uma mistura desajeitada de motivos e metáforas que não fazem sentido no estudo psicológico do personagem principal. E se eles pretendem fazer sentido, o espetador já perdeu há muito tempo o interesse em decifrá-los. (23/10/2023)

Ari Aster I like, I enjoyed his two previous horror movies, however, I was not interested in Beau Is Afraid from the first mention. And I was really scared by the 180-minute runtime. Which turned out to be a serious problem, I watched the movie about five times and only on the second day I quite enjoyed the last 40 minutes. But even though I expected a mindfuck, I was bothered by the fact that the director throws random situations one after another without explanation...what's more, they are not explained, they are just there, for no apparent reason, and what's more, I was terribly bored and that's why only two stars. I would really like to try the director's game on the second viewing, now that I know what to expect, but I probably won't do it in one go. I wonder if Midsommar would work on me again, maybe I just got caught up in the hype back then..maybe the next movie will provide an answer. (18/06/2023)

I'm not gonna lie, I wish Aster had stayed on the ground and his new film was more connected to reality. Beau Is Afraid is a bizarre mindfuck, but, on the other hand, I appreciate that it is the kind of mindfuck that you SOMEHOW understand intuitively without having to read a lot of scholarly treatises about it. The beginning is brilliant, the second quarter is very good, in the third quarter the pace drops a bit, and the final quarter is downright confusing. Hereditary and Midsommar struck me as perfectly coherent works, where each piece fits into the puzzle, but I don't have that feeling with Beau is Afraid. On the contrary, I can imagine that certain sequences could have been missing altogether, the final quarter could have been replaced by something completely different, without fundamentally changing the tone or the impression of the work as a whole. Still, a film like no other that has to be seen. (21/04/2023)

Ari Aster and his artsy bizarre mind fuck, and also his weakest film. I like both Aster's Midsommar and Hereditary, he's definitely a distinctive and interesting new filmmaker, it's just that here for the first time he veered away from horror and made a weird genre mashup that only worked for me in the first two quarters, the other two I found weird and boring at the same time. Joaquin Phoenix plays a reclusive weirdo whose mother dies suddenly, and strange and bizarre things happen to him that pretty much make no sense. In short the film is far from reality. I thought the first act was great as there is a nice depiction of the chaos in the streets full of strange people, the occasional dead body and some situations escalate in unexpectedly funny ways, it's one of the best parts of the film. The second act is still okay too, it's weird in a cute way and has quite a shocking ending. The third act is already very weird, it includes animation and the audience's attention falls off slightly. Luckily it escalates by the end, which is unexpectedly action packed. Well, I found the finale desperately long, boring and also unnecessary. A strange film in which, although there is a lot going on, three hours is still incredibly long and the few interesting fun scenes are really scarce. Phoenix played a great role, but I'm glad the movie is over. Of the genre's recent oddities, Mother! and Men sat far better for me. 5.5/10. (18/06/2023)

"I really thought I was gonna die, my whole life…" 2023: A Neurotic Odyssey? The author himself views it as a “nightmare comedy” or, if you will, a Jewish Lord of the Rings (the burden carried to Mount Doom is evident). For me, it was something like The Swimmer with Burt Lancaster. A surreal return home bringing insights, this time amidst waves of guilt, crushing fears, and consequences not just of birth trauma. Beau, you poor anxious boy, how I understood you… Ari Aster has chosen to continue polarizing the reception of his work, and it seems he couldn’t care less. Let’s just hope he doesn’t implode on us like Aronofsky… (03/07/2023)