Beau Is Afraid

American director Ari Astaire broke into the film industry without knocking with his debut horror film "Reincarnation", awarding himself the title of the new master of horror at the first attempt. The title was cemented by Solstice, a folk horror about a difficult breakup that made Florence Pugh a star, and the idea of going to Sweden was a nightmare. After two absolute rental hits, Ari Astaire received the blessing of Studio A24, a $35 million budget and a complete policy of non-interference in a new project, the idea of which the director had been hatching for 10 years. The selective actor Joaquin Phoenix agreed to a role in the film immediately after reading the script, which pleasantly surprised Astaire (gluing: they have already become friends and are planning the next joint film, with which I congratulate you and me first of all). What happens when the creator is given carte blanche? A three-hour odyssey through the unconscious, helping to explore oneself through hidden fears and endless anxiety, which caused fierce skirmishes on Twitter.

Bo (Joaquin Phoenix) is a lonely forty–year-old man who aimlessly visits a therapist and relies on medication for an anxiety disorder. Bo has a trip to his mother, but even from her phone call, the hero turns into a pillar of salt. This prompts the psychiatrist to prescribe new (not yet well-researched) antidepressants to the hero. On the day of departure, everything goes upside down: the hero overslept, the keys to the apartment were stolen, the suitcase was missing, the water was turned off – there was nothing to wash down the pill, went out for water – there was nothing to pay, walked away for a minute – homeless people broke into the apartment, missed the flight, the apartment was demolished ... and this is just the beginning of one long, crazy, unbearably anxious journey to his mother's house.

Have you ever had a dream about rushing to a certain place, but you can't get there because of the obstacles that constantly arise on the way? "All the fears of Bo" is the same dream, or rather, a road movie, consisting of all the classic nightmares familiar to any anxious person. Bo is a vulnerable hero, danger lurks at literally every step, but he cannot hide from external threats even in his own apartment. Just as he cannot hide from the ubiquitous MW company (it was her logo that studio A24 chose for the promo film), founded by his mother, who always reminds of herself and seems to surround Bo from all sides. The circumstances in which Bo finds himself do not give him room for maneuver or any control over the situation, his life depends on the people around him all the time, he only manages to dodge bullets and chairs flying at him, helplessly watching as the world collapses around him, and people spontaneously die.

It is difficult to come up with a more Jungian film than "All the Fears of Bo" – it relies with all its weight on the unconscious of the viewer, if you take it critically, your head will instantly crack. Hence, perhaps, the endless debate about the film. Decades later, such a discussion does not subside around Lynch's Mulholland Drive, the director refuses to interpret his film, and many viewers, without receiving an answer, continue to insist on the meaninglessness of the plot. Astaire is facing similar charges, the movie is also mercilessly long, cognitively distorted, and absolutely defies logical interpretation. The search for "meaning" in such abstract and sometimes surreal paintings often leads to a dead end, the same as interpreting dreams according to a paperback textbook from the 90s