371: Beau Is Afraid

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[00:01:03] Hey everybody, it's Henry with the Film Buds Podcast.

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[00:01:14] 79. Let's get to Bow is Afraid, which is now on digital demand.

[00:01:21] And it might be on streaming service or two bits at least available for purchase and rental.

[00:01:26] It's written and directed by Ari Aster, stars Walking Phoenix,

[00:01:32] Patti LuPone, Amy Ryan, Nathan Lane, Kylie Rogers, Parker Posey and some others.

[00:01:40] And the synopsis is,

[00:01:42] Following the sudden death of his mother, a mild-mannered but anxiety-ridden man

[00:01:46] confronts his darkest fears as he embarks on an epic odyssey back home.

[00:01:52] So I saw this one not in theaters.

[00:01:56] I saw it a couple months ago when it came on demand.

[00:02:00] I loved Hereditary.

[00:02:02] I really, really liked Midsummer and I'm still waiting to see the director's cut of Midsummer I'm dying to.

[00:02:10] But I remember when Hereditary came out, people were like,

[00:02:13] What the heck is this? Who is this guy who made this movie?

[00:02:16] It blew so many people away, including me and really left a mark.

[00:02:22] I would say it's still one of the best A24 horror films to date and then Midsummer as well.

[00:02:28] I think Hereditary is still my favorite of the three films he's made.

[00:02:32] So going into this, I was very excited.

[00:02:35] Walking Phoenix is one of my favorite actors.

[00:02:37] I love passion projects.

[00:02:39] I love epic, sprawling dramas that are three hours long.

[00:02:42] That's just my kind of movie and it's rare that we get films like that made nowadays of any sort of budget.

[00:02:49] So I was very happy that this one was out there.

[00:02:51] I'm sad that it didn't do that well financially, but oh well is what it is.

[00:02:56] And I think overall I do enjoy the movie a fair bit.

[00:03:01] I think it's solid.

[00:03:02] It would be my least favorite of the three right now.

[00:03:06] But it's still incredibly unique.

[00:03:09] It's so bizarre and mystifying and totally out there.

[00:03:13] And even with the flaws that it has, I would say it's probably one of the best examples of capturing true anxiety of someone, especially in the modern day.

[00:03:26] And I was joking on Letterboxd, like the first act of this movie where he's living in this impoverished part of the city and he's screaming and yelling and running all over the place because there are people chasing him and leaving him notes and hearing all these crazy sounds and all that.

[00:03:43] It reminded me of where I live in New Mexico and my co-host and wife Elle would surely agree.

[00:03:50] So I thought that was very funny and relatable.

[00:03:52] But I think it really does capture, in a very modern sense, someone completely unraveling due to all the surrounding exterior fears and anxieties and worries of the world and the digital era and someone completely freaking out all the time.

[00:04:11] And especially if you're living in a place that's not safe, which is sadly more and more these days very common and with all the different crimes and God knows what that happens in day-to-day life now.

[00:04:23] And so I think that was really, really impressive.

[00:04:26] And that's probably my favorite part of the movie too.

[00:04:30] And the rest of the film, it's sort of hard to talk about specifically because there's so much.

[00:04:37] It's not really describable in terms of plot.

[00:04:41] There's just so many weird sequences and moments that you could talk about for hours really.

[00:04:48] But some of my favorites if we're talking about it, aside from the first act, the storybook sequence where it's going through the ages, all that stuff I thought that was really cool.

[00:04:59] The plot stuff, I thought that was amazing.

[00:05:02] The sequence with Nathan Lane and Amy Ryan and the daughter, especially the ending sequence with her and the paint.

[00:05:08] I won't spoil it just in case you haven't seen it, but that's shocking.

[00:05:12] And one thing with Ari Aster, which works for me is he really deals very heavily, very realistically in trauma, like processing trauma, losing your will and free will, sort of being screwed in life, just having bad luck.

[00:05:28] Not only that, but just having a paranoia of fear and worry because of possible things that could happen, underlying fears, all that.

[00:05:37] I think he captures that better than almost anyone out there working today.

[00:05:41] So I think he is an incredibly fascinating filmmaker and very unique auteur.

[00:05:46] And I'm so glad that he's out there right now making movies.

[00:05:50] Also all of the sequences with his mother because he has major mommy issues and his mother is this very controlling, dominating woman who makes him feel very small.

[00:06:00] And so that is very effective.

[00:06:03] And Walking Phoenix is amazing in this.

[00:06:05] Like he's I think one of the best actors of all time, but he is incredible in this and there's such a range of emotion covered in this.

[00:06:15] The sort of creature, let's call it, towards the end in the attic I think it is.

[00:06:21] That's really good.

[00:06:22] So there's just so many things that you're like, what the hell is this?

[00:06:24] Like what is this movie?

[00:06:25] But you can't help but watch it because you don't know what's going to happen next.

[00:06:28] And I don't think it all totally comes together.

[00:06:31] It does feel at times too long.

[00:06:35] It maybe could have been shortened.

[00:06:36] I'm not upset that it's three hours, but it still did feel kind of long sometimes.

[00:06:40] So it is still his least effective, in my opinion, as I said, but still worth watching if you want unique, art house, weird, fascinating cinema.

[00:06:51] This is a good one to watch even if you don't end up loving it.

[00:06:53] There's no denying that it has very, very many idiosyncratic qualities.

[00:06:59] So that one is a heavy four out of five.

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