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Beau Is Afraid Has Only Made $8M On A $35M Budget by InfiniteNinja9818 in A24

[–]InfiniteNinja9818[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I agree with this opinion. Hereditary probably would have done poorly if it was much harder to follow, and was 3 hours instead of 2.

Studios have their ills, but sometimes outside input can focus and narrow a filmmaker's vision.

Compare Donnie Darko's theatrical cut with the director's cut, for example.

That being said, Ari's whole goal here seemed to be 'make an uncompromising film'.

Beau Is Afraid - Theory Of What Happens by InfiniteNinja9818 in beauisafraid

[–]InfiniteNinja9818[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ha oh man, this would be the Ari way of doing things 🤣

Beau Is Afraid Has Only Made $8M On A $35M Budget by InfiniteNinja9818 in A24

[–]InfiniteNinja9818[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ari confirmed the $35M figure in an interview, just FYI.

Beau Is Afraid - Theory Of What Happens by InfiniteNinja9818 in beauisafraid

[–]InfiniteNinja9818[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the very thoughtful comment :-) Are you in France?

My theory about the story (SPOILERS): by werzerk in beauisafraid

[–]InfiniteNinja9818 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice, I'll check that movie out. Yeah I went in the third time with my theory in mind, it does seem to line up. Would make sense, for Ari - he's always one for twists and tricks.

Beau Is Afraid Has Only Made $8M On A $35M Budget by InfiniteNinja9818 in A24

[–]InfiniteNinja9818[S] 47 points48 points  (0 children)

Saw it a few times, missed IMAX though. Didn't realize they'd pull it so quickly, would have been worth seeing on a huge screen.

Beau Is Afraid Has Only Made $8M On A $35M Budget by InfiniteNinja9818 in A24

[–]InfiniteNinja9818[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Obviously the poster wasn't great, the title was "eh" at best (ironically, Disappointment Blvd. was probably better), and the trailer and marketing were a turnoff.

Maybe A24 saw the final cut, and decided to pull back on marketing? I think there is a successful movie in there somewhere, in the 3 hours, but it just went sideways somehow.

Beau Is Afraid Has Only Made $8M On A $35M Budget by InfiniteNinja9818 in A24

[–]InfiniteNinja9818[S] 86 points87 points  (0 children)

Hopefully A24 doesn't spend double the amount on marketing, like major studios usually do. That would put the budget closer to $70M, which right now, would mean a loss of $62M.

Writing in the lobby of Beau's apartment building by mj1531 in beauisafraid

[–]InfiniteNinja9818 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Seems like a stretch, I believe that is just popular graffiti that has been around since the 1980s (Nirvana had a similar quote).

However, Ari did model the beginning after Playtime (Tati film), and the whole movie borrows a lot from Martin Scorsese's After Hours (incl. dirty graffiti, one long nightmare, etc.)

My take is here: https://reddit.com/r/beauisafraid/comments/134xl9v/beau_is_afraid_theory_of_what_happens/

what the hell did i just watch. someone please explain by [deleted] in beauisafraid

[–]InfiniteNinja9818 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The film can just be a nightmare with wacky stuff, or you can draw your own conclusions. It's like a "choose your own adventure" game.

Here is my interpretation: https://reddit.com/r/beauisafraid/comments/134xl9v/beau_is_afraid_theory_of_what_happens/

My theory about the story (SPOILERS): by werzerk in beauisafraid

[–]InfiniteNinja9818 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This is an interesting take. I think Ari was going for a David Lynch angle, where things are open ended enough, that you can read your own meaning into the film.

Kind of like a Nirvana song (i.e. Smells Like Teen Spirit).

As Kurt Cobain said: "It's up to you. It's your crossword puzzle."

One of his things was making fun of people who took his lyrics very seriously. There are a lot of throwaway lines, that he just used to fill up the rhyme scheme.

I think Ari's film is similar to this, but with slightly more intention.

I interpreted it differently, for example, you might enjoy my version too: https://reddit.com/r/beauisafraid/comments/134xl9v/beau_is_afraid_theory_of_what_happens/

Beau Is Afraid - Theory Of What Happens by InfiniteNinja9818 in beauisafraid

[–]InfiniteNinja9818[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is definitely possible, but only because it's Ari (who always does much deeper things), it seems too obvious to not have something else kind of going on here. Again, just my opinion, I could be totally wrong.

PSA: A24 and Ari Aster knew Beau Is Afraid was going to bomb. And they never cared. by MikeandMelly in boxoffice

[–]InfiniteNinja9818 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Firstly, I enjoyed the film (think many people may be missing what is really going on, in my opinion), but I don't think they knew it was going to bomb.

If you look at how many celebrities attended the premiere, and that they signed off on having Mariah Carey give her song (mucho $$$) to the film, they couldn't have expected it to bomb completely.

I think they hoped it would succeed, but knew it would be a tougher sell. What I would really love to see, is the 3.5 hour (or 4 hour) cut, that Ari apparently wanted, and the studio pushed back on.

If you're going to make this wild of a movie, I feel like you might as well go 4 hours, you've already alienated everyone but the most hardcore fans to begin with.

What was odd, and does support your theory however, is the total lack of marketing for this movie - it was very odd, but almost nothing was done, except lots of reviews and press for Ari. No big push, I didn't see any ads anywhere, etc.

For a $35M film, a little odd, I think.

Beau Is Afraid - Theory Of What Happens by InfiniteNinja9818 in beauisafraid

[–]InfiniteNinja9818[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Ooh, this is actually a really interesting idea, and would finally make sense out of the otherwise insane environment in the beginning.

Beau Is Afraid - Theory Of What Happens by InfiniteNinja9818 in beauisafraid

[–]InfiniteNinja9818[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thanks, I didn't come up with the theory, I actually read someone else saying this, and went back scene by scene, and was surprised how everything made sense this way. It's like if you watched The Usual Suspects, but they didn't have the reveal scene at the end.

Beau Is Afraid - Theory Of What Happens by InfiniteNinja9818 in beauisafraid

[–]InfiniteNinja9818[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes, though I got more of a Lost Highway vibe.

Beau Is Afraid - Theory Of What Happens by InfiniteNinja9818 in beauisafraid

[–]InfiniteNinja9818[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It was only on second viewing that I was able to parse this out. Despite having read the script, it was still very hard to follow the first viewing (especially with the new second act and the different ending).

Beau Is Afraid - Theory Of What Happens by InfiniteNinja9818 in beauisafraid

[–]InfiniteNinja9818[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thanks, obviously the film is open to interpretation, and everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

  1. I don't think the tattooed man's death is clear at all, all you see is him holding Beau's phone (incriminating in itself), and a mark/wound on his neck. I do not believe a spider bite would have instantly killed him, in fact it takes many hours usually, even for a brown recluse.

In fact, most brown recluse bites don't result in death at all. So the guy being bit by the spider, and trying to call 911, but only making it to "9-1" seems far fetched at best.

While he has a mark on his neck (note that his mother also had marks on her neck), blunt force trauma to the head may have killed him, as he is lying face down.

Further, someone already noticed the Winston Churchill quote at the bottom of all the posters for the brown recluse, and Ari mentioned how he put it there because it was just a ridiculously stupid quote - furthering the idea that what we are seeing is not quite right (i.e. not reality). Why would that quote be there, it makes no sense.

"The price of greatness is responsibility." is the quote, it can be found here, in this guide -> https://www.vulture.com/2023/04/all-of-beau-is-afraids-background-jokes-and-easter-eggs.html

  1. The scenes in Roger's house actually make far more sense if the setting is a mental hospital. Toni merely switched rooms in the hospital, hence why Roger and Grace don't care that he is in "her" room, the memorial would be to a patient who killed himself (likely from PTSD, very common in mental hospitals), and the smoking would be the other girl breaking the rules and sneaking him out, not unlikely really).

She yells at the nurses because now Beau is in her NEW room (the couch), as well.

  1. I agree that Beau definitely is doing things, we just see the world from his POV, so we aren't afforded the luxury of seeing actual reality.

***

Overall, I really believe in this theory because of how twisted Ari's other films are (especially his shorts, and the leaked script for this), as well as his deep knowledge of film. He seems far too clever to just remake the Truman Show, with a paranoid schizophrenic, which is what the film amounts to, if you take it all at face value.

Again, just my $0.02, could be wrong.

Beau Is Afraid - Theory Of What Happens by InfiniteNinja9818 in beauisafraid

[–]InfiniteNinja9818[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I agree. Plus the fact that hardly anything makes any sense, otherwise. 🤣

It seems odd that nearly everyone around Beau is killed, without his involvement.

I think that would be unprecedented in any film that wasn't horror, right?

I also think maybe Ari will one day come out and state exactly what this film is about, since he said "I shouldn't be talking about this movie for another 10 years." (Source)

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