A24 has just dropped the crazy first trailer for Beau Is Afraid (via FearHQ.com), confirming it will be released in theaters on April 21. Ari Aster's third feature after the critically acclaimed Midsommar and Hereditary, the "nightmare comedy" as the filmmaker has previously described it, certainly looks every bit as weird as his past work.
Academy Award winner Joaquin Phoenix (Joker) plays the movie's lead from childhood right through to old age, and a logline from last year offers at least some insights into what's happening here. It described Beau Is Afraid as "a decades-spanning portrait of one of the most successful entrepreneurs of all time."
Now, that's been followed by a relatively unrevealing synopsis that 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."
Between those and this eerie, very weird, first footage, we could attempt to figure out what's going on, but something tells us this is a journey that will be best enjoyed on the big screen.
Along with Phoenix, the movie stars Nathan Lane, Amy Ryan, Stephen Mckinley Henderson, Hayler Squires, Denis Ménochet, Kylie Rogers, Armen Nahapetian, with Parker Posey, and Pattie Lupone.
All signs point to it being based on Aster's 2011 short movie Beau, and we anticipate this effort finding just as much success as Midommer ($47.9 million) and Hereditary ($82.5 million) at the box office. Yes, it may look a little too odd for some people's tastes, but if nothing else, don't be surprised if a lot of moments from this trailer forever live on as GIFs on social media.
As noted, Beau Is Afraid arrives in theaters on April 21.