Joaquin Phoenix is afraid in Ari Aster's Beau Is Afraid trailer
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Beau is afraid and, honestly, we are too after watching the delightfully dreadful trailer for Ari Aster's forthcoming film.
Aster previously told IndieWire that his third film — which arrives on the heels of 2018's Hereditary and 2019's Midsommar — would either be a "zonky nightmare comedy" or a "big, sickly domestic melodrama," and, true to his word, Beau Is Afraid appears to fall somewhere between the two.
The trailer barely allows a realistically de-aged Joaquin Phoenix — who plays Beau throughout all stages of his life — to enjoy a day out in the sunshine before it takes a darkened turn. "I am so sorry for what your Daddy passed down to you," his mom tearfully whispers one night. "But I wanted a child, the greatest gift of my life."
Things become even trickier when Beau — now an older, isolated man who appears to struggle with psychosis and agoraphobia — ventures into the outside world to visit his mom, only to be sent on a whirlwind, horrifying odyssey filled with car accidents, gunfire, "assistive health monitors," and small-town animated dreamscapes that test the limits of reality. Joining him on his quest are Nathan Lane, Amy Ryan, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Parker Posey, and Patti LuPone.
"Feeling sad about going home, Beau?" Nathan Lane asks at one point. "Must feel totally unreal."
Historically, families haven't always had the greatest time together in Aster's projects. Hereditary detailed a fraught, vengeful mother and son relationship, while Midsommar dealt with grief and mourning after a woman's entire family is killed. Based on the trailer, it's safe to say that Beau's upcoming reunion won't be an easy one either.
Before Beau Is Afraid, Aster also wrote and directed Beau, a 2011 short about how a "neurotic middle-aged man's trip (to visit his mother) is delayed indefinitely when his keys are mysteriously taken from his door. He is subsequently haunted by an increasingly sinister chain of upsetting events." It is not clear if the two are directly related.
Beau Is Afraid sprints into theaters April 21. Watch the trailer above.
Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.
Related content:
