The first trailer for Ari Aster’s third feature-length film, Beau Is Afraid, has finally been released by production company A24. Originally titled ‘Disappointment Blvd’, the film stars Joaquin Phoenix as the titular Beau, adding another notch to the Oscar Award winner’s belt of diversely unconventional roles.
The film has enormous expectations behind it after the roaring success of Aster’s first two features, Hereditary (2018) and Midsommar (2019). These releases became two of A24’s highest-grossing films to date, and being known for his creatively existential brand of cerebral horror, Beau Is Afraid looks to be no exception.
The trailer is bemusing, leaving audiences in the dark about the film’s narrative. Opening on the eerie image of Phoenix looking at a de-aged version of himself, the film’s unsettling atmosphere is apparent from the get-go. A24’s official synopsis of the film reads: ‘A paranoid man embarks on an epic odyssey to get home to his mother in this bold and ingeniously depraved new film from writer/director Ari Aster.’ Although this description leaves much to the imagination, Beau Is Afraid will, evidently, play upon the themes of family and loss that thread through both of Aster’s previous feature films.
However, the aesthetic that we see in the trailer feels fresh and new for Aster, appearing to combine the darkness of Hereditary with the brightness of Midsommar, creating a unique visual spectacle that promises to disturb and delight audiences in this new, genre-warping odyssey. The trailer is beautifully weird and disturbingly disconcerting, furthering the already growing anticipation for Aster and A24’s newest venture together.
Now for the question on everyone’s lips: when will Beau Is Afraid finally hit cinemas? Delayed from its original 2022 scheduling, the film is set to be theatrically released in the US in April of this year, but looking at A24’s previous track record, Beau Is Afraid will most likely take a while longer to reach UK shores.
Words by Jess Parker
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