Tease yet give nothing away…that’s what A24 accomplishes with the first trailer for writer/director Ari Aster’s Beau is Afraid. What little can be gleaned from the trailer indicates that Aster’s third outing at the helm of a feature film might even surpass what he achieved with his first two movies, Midsommar and Hereditary.
The trailer also makes us want to crawl inside Ari Aster’s mind for 10 minutes; any longer might be hazardous to one’s health.
Oscar winner Joaquin Phoenix (Joker) leads a cast that includes Emmy Award winner Nathan Lane (Only Murders in the Building), Oscar nominee Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone), Screen Actors Guild Awards nominee Stephen McKinley Henderson (Lady Bird), and BAFTA Awards nominee Hayley Squires (Adult Material). Denis Ménochet (Inglourious Basterds), Kylie Rogers (Yellowstone), Armen Nahapetian (Here and Now), Zoe Lister-Jones (Life in Pieces), Parker Posey (The Staircase), and Patti LuPone (American Horror Story) also star.
A24’s offered this simple synopsis: “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.”
Beau is Afraid opens in theaters on April 21, 2023.
