‘Beau Is Afraid’ director Ari Aster can’t stay away from dysfunctional families

Ari Aster is a filmmaker who has been instrumental in changing the shape and substance of the horror genre.

His previous two hits, “Hereditary” and “Midsommar,” were applauded by critics and relished by fans. His latest entry, “Beau Is Afraid,” is a definite departure from what fans have come to expect from the filmmaker.

It was one of the first movies he tried to get made and, when he wrote it, “it was really kind of this gag machine; this very episodic nightmare comedy that was really only interested in being funny and when I went back to it I still found a lot of it funny, a lot of it made me laugh,” Aster said during an interview.

“Beau Is Afraid” follows the titular paranoid man (Joaquin Phoenix), who embarks on an odyssey to get home to his mother. But mayhem ensues, sending his life in a new direction. He is forced to confront the lies he’s been told by those closest to him.

It also stars Patti LuPone, Nathan Lane, Amy Ryan and Parker Posey.

The film, which opens in theatres Friday, is compelling and complex but entertaining nonetheless and certainly the funniest entry from Aster. But just like his prior films, it’s laced with his signature touch of dysfunctional family dynamics and trauma.

Aster finds it hard to escape from those themes.

“It’s hard for me to imagine a story that doesn’t at least touch on those themes. It’s really hard to get away from families in drama,” he said, breaking into a laugh.

“But I do sort of see this film as a continuation of what I was doing in those first two films. In some ways, I see it as kind of being an explorer explosion of those things and I see it as being kind of the end of the road as well. I kind of feel that this is the last word on whatever I was doing there or whatever I’ve been doing in that space. In some ways, this film kind of cannibalizes all of that as well.”

At a budget of $35 million, “Beau Is Afraid” marks the most expensive feature film for A24 and the biggest undertaking for Aster. The scope and freedom allowed him to dive deep into the dark comedy.

“Because of the freedom it would give me to sort of create this world from scratch, that would allow me to sort of go wherever I wanted to go without much restraint. Ultimately, the goal was to make something that was funny and sad.”

The 36-year-old filmmaker set the bar higher for himself with this one.

“It’s a picaresque narrative so it’s by nature episodic and so we’re working with different character actors for a certain amount of time, and then they leave and we move to a new location, and then new people come in, which is very exciting but also very disruptive. You achieve some sort of momentum in one world and then, all of a sudden, you’re forced to pivot, you’re now in a new world. And you have to kind of get your head around this new environment and these new people.”

For Aster, 36, working with Phoenix was in some ways a “big new step” that had him throwing away his plan and going with the flow, a process he found invigorating.

“I knew that the way that I traditionally worked, which was to block and shortlist sequences in advance — which I still did here — I knew that that wouldn’t quite fly the same way with Joaquin. I could have a plan coming to the set, but that I would need to kind of keep it to myself and kind of work things out with Joaquin, and be ready to throw the plan away at any given moment.”

Aster always wanted to work with the Oscar-winning Phoenix since he first saw him in “To Die For” in 1995, calling him a “remarkable actor.”

“I was especially impressed with what he did in the film ‘I’m Still Here,’ not only that performance as a really brilliant comic performance, but also what he was doing with his own name, which struck me as a really, really courageous and even, like, suicidal gesture. And it really felt to me like the gesture of a very fascinating artist.

“But I’ve always been impressed also with just his vulnerability. It’s just he’s always struck me as an incredibly vulnerable open actor. Beau really requires that kind of vulnerability. There is something about Joaquin that is very kind of childlike and open and good. There’s a goodness about Joaquin that I really think shows up here. I think it’s a really soulful performance and it was just a really amazing experience to work with him.”

Aster said “Beau Is Afraid” is “about an unlived life.” But for his next film, he plans to do something very different.

Marriska Fernandes is a Toronto-based entertainment reporter and film critic. She is a freelance contributor for the Star’s Culture section. Follow her on Twitter: @marrs_fers

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