How much must Joaquin Phoenix suffer for his second Oscar? An awful lot, writes BRIAN VINER
Beau is scared (15, 179 minutes)
Verdict: long and loopy
American writer-director Ari Aster has only made three feature films, but his name could already be turned into a cinematic adjective: Aster-oid perhaps, or Aster-like.
His 2018 debut, Hereditary is a hugely creepy psychological horror film, in which Toni Collette’s character is terrorized by her dead mother.
Then came his folk-horror triumph Midsommar (2019), in which Florence Pugh’s character is left traumatized by her sister’s murder of her parents, who then committed suicide.
And now we have Beau Is Afraid, in which Joaquin Phoenix plays a mentally ill man enslaved by his distant mother (who is both geographically and emotionally distant). What all this dysfunction tells us about Aster’s own background I wouldn’t say. Maybe nothing. But he certainly seems to see families as the root of all internal misery.
His latest exploration of that misery is divided into four distinct acts, lasting a whisker less than three grueling hours.
In the first act, we see Beau (Phoenix) living a precarious existence in an urban hell, populated by derelicts and madmen.
It’s a performance of bravado, yes, but also somehow ostentatious: so extravagantly committed you can almost see him reaching for another Oscar
In the first act, we see Beau (Phoenix) living a precarious existence in an urban hell, populated by derelicts and madmen.
He seems almost sane by comparison. But his paranoia mounts, to the point where it’s hard to know if his terrible misadventures are real, or just in his own head.
In a way, Aster mines the same seam as Florian Zeller did in his critically acclaimed 2020 film The Father, for which Anthony Hopkins won an Academy Award for Best Actor. He gives us a portrait of mental instability from within, and I expect Phoenix to be hyped as a prize contender as well.
It’s a bravura performance, sure enough, but also somehow ostentatious: so extravagantly devoted that you can almost see him grabbing another Oscar, having looked the last time he played a troubled man trapped in an urban nightmare, landed one, in the superior Joker (2019).
Beau’s day really starts to go downhill when his keys and luggage are stolen from outside his dowdy apartment, meaning he can’t get to the airport for a flight to visit his mother (Patti LuPone).
That’s the start of a disturbing chain of events, which ends with him being stabbed by a madman and, if that wasn’t enough, being run over by a truck.
The second act opens with Beau waking up in the care of a friendly couple, Grace (Amy Ryan) and Roger (Nathan Lane). They have taken him in, where she notably makes him a surrogate for her own son, a fallen soldier.
But he is treated with hostility by both their daughter Toni (Kylie Rogers) and another houseguest, Jeeves (Denis Menochet), a PTSD-ridden army veteran.
Whether or not this guy is called Jeeves as an ironic reference to PG Wodehouse’s character isn’t clear. If so, then it’s a prank that doesn’t work, much like the film’s third and strangest act, when after things go horribly wrong and Grace turns on him, Beau strides into a nearby woods with Jeeves in murderous pursuit.
This time, he finds refuge with a troupe of traveling actors, but it’s not long before we find ourselves in a parallel, partially animated story, in which Beau is an aging family man long separated from his wife and two sons.
Again, this is clearly a manifestation of his own mind playing tricks. But the trick is really up to us, forced to put up with Aster’s self-indulgence in a movie so long and crazy that the final act, in which Beau has sex with a childhood friend, is reunited with his cruel, controlling mother, though – spoiler alert! – she’s decapitated by a falling chandelier, and encountering monsters in the attic comes as a welcome relief from the proper weirdness.
Like Beau in the attic, I couldn’t wait to get out.
Yes officer, my name really IS James Bond…
The Other Guy (15, 80 min)
Verdict: Bond is back
In 1952, Ian Fleming chose to name his hero James Bond because he wanted “a very flat, low-key name.”
He plucked it from his own bookcase. The original James Bond was the author of Birds Of The West Indies, Fleming’s “bible” at his Goldeneye residence in Jamaica, who wasn’t too happy when he found out his name had been stolen.
That mean ornithologist is just one of many real men who can honestly say, “The name is Bond, James Bond.”
Apparently half the world’s population has seen a 007 movie.
This cheerful, clever little documentary explores the impact this has had on their lives.
It may sound like a lame premise, but Australian filmmaker Matthew Bauer deftly swerves it into surprising, thoughtful and sometimes moving directions.
Most JBs agree on two things: it’s a blessing and a curse. A gift for chatting girls; not so great when the cops pull you over and assume you’re taking the mickey.
At just an hour and 20 minutes, The Other Fellow is always welcome and ultimately proves more memorable (and certainly more original) than many big-screen 007 outings.
By Larushka Ivan-Zadeh
Also show…
If you’ve seen any of the previous nine episodes, you know what to expect from Fast X (12, 131 mins, ★★): cars, explosions, more cars, no grip on reality and way too much whining about ‘ family’.
This is the ongoing, increasingly laughable tale of illegal street racer turned international government agent and stubborn refuser Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel)
This is supposedly part of Dom’s farewell and entertainment-wise it certainly doesn’t detract from the action
Only a great new villain (Jason Momoa) really seems to be having fun. Luckily he’s fantastic
Yes, this is the ongoing, increasingly laughable tale of illegal street racer turned international government agent and stubborn refuser Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel).
There’s no point in trying to tell you the plot since this franchise lost it the moment they chose to send a car into space in Fast & Furious 9.
This is supposedly part of Dom’s farewell and, entertainment-wise, it certainly isn’t limited to the action.
However, tension or emotional investment feel the pinch. The main goal seems to be to bring in as many A-list stars as possible: Charlize Theron, Helen Mirren, Jason Statham, Dwayne Johnson – it’s more of a Vanity Fair party than a movie – but only a great new villain (Jason Momoa) seems to be really having fun. Luckily he’s fantastic.
For more than 50 years, Judy Blume’s coming-of-age books about the intimate trials of puberty have provided soul mates for girls mulling over first kisses, first periods, and first bras (and when they’ll finally grow something to fill them). .
So it was a wise idea to make this long-awaited movie version of Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (PG, 106 min, ★★★★), her 1970 bestseller, in a nostalgic way that crosses generations. This means that while our heroine is still 11-year-old Margaret (an adorably sincere Abby Ryder Fortson), it’s veteran actress Kathy Bates who almost steals the show as her brash, relatively “difficult” Jewish grandmother.
This means that while our heroine is still 11-year-old Margaret (an adorably sincere Abby Ryder Fortson), it’s veteran actress Kathy Bates who almost steals the show.
And Rachel McAdams stars in every scene as Margaret’s well-meaning mother.
In short, the casting is perfect in this intelligent adaptation that gently balances humor with heart.
The 11 year olds actually look like real 11 year olds, rather than the Hollywood filter variety.
Where once Blume’s books were censored in religiously conservative America, they now seem blissfully tame, even innocent, compared to the scary new terrain facing today’s TikTok tweens.