Beau Is Afraid (2023) poster
2023 · comedy · drama · horror

Beau Is Afraid

Directed by Ari Aster2h 59m2023
ElsewhereIMDb6.677kRT67%Metacritic63TMDB6.71k
  • heavy
  • intense
  • surreal
  • bleak
  • cold
  • twisty
Movie DNA

Heavy, steady, measured comedy / drama, surreal in texture. Nihilistic, intimate, cold, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.

How every film is hand-scored →

Following the sudden death of his mother, a mild-mannered but anxiety-ridden man confronts his darkest fears as he embarks on an epic odyssey back home.

Our read · Beau Is Afraid (2023) reads as a heavy, steady, surreal comedy · drama · horror entry — measured in intensity, intimate in scope, cold in temperature, nihilistic in outlook, with a strong directorial signature. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.

Where the cast leads
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The shape of Beau Is Afraid

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

You want a three-hour anxiety odyssey that rewards surrendering to surreal dread.

ends ambiguousit will wreck youmeditativegrips by minute 12attention 5/5feels its length
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around
Heads-upsuicide themenudityexplicit sexgraphic violenceanimal harmbody horror

Skip it tonightYou need a neat ending tonight; this trauma spiral will wreck your evening.

DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
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