Beau ls Afraid absolutely melted my mind. It was incredibly bizarre, chaotic, sadistic, traumatic, thought provoking, and so much more that I would run out of characters just trying to describe. It really is an odyssey that after ending makes you go "what did I just watch." It's the type of film you have to sit and process and even read about just to get a true grasp of what you just witnessed. It's definitely not a film for everyone as are most of his films. it's strange in every possible way but I absolutely loved how unique it was as well all the different themes (whether it be guilt, smothering, manipulation), as well as the symbolism and metaphors you can gather throughout the films 3 hour run time. Best Comparison is like a messed up Gaslighting Mind Melting Sadistic Truman Show

What a ride.. clear your expectations, and open your mind. Then buckle up and hop on this ride with ari and Joaquin. One of those films that still has you thinking about it a couple of days later. Intense, incredible performances by the actors. Different and a bit wild. Like being in a dream. Pretty cool.

The movie, for its part, is fairly lively. Especially arresting, from a visual standpoint, is an extended sequence in which Beau encounters members of an interactive theater troupe in a forest.

Viewers are sure to be impressed by Aster's prodigious imagination and technical skill, amused by his gallows humour, and amazed by some of the outrageous images he puts on screen. But whether they will be enthralled by the film is another matter.

Its visual imagination is wonderfully unrestrained, compelling in its extremes even when it is so clearly indebted to every movie that Aster hoovered up to get here. Its tone is impressively steadfast in its desire to repel one moment, entrance the next. And its performances are across-the-board astounding in their commitment.

Barry Hertz

The Globe and Mail (Toronto)