autism is living by vampire rules. light sensitivity. eating the wrong food makes you want to die. need to be explicitly invited places. weird sleep schedule. eating the same thing every time. specific rituals and routines. burst into flames at the sight of a crucifix. etc.
beau is afraid truly captures that out of control existential irrational anxiety of thinking everyone outside is horrible that your house will get broken into that you’ll miss your flight that if your mother doesnt answer the phone it means shes horrifically dead if you trust a stranger to look after you something terrible will happen that everyone is lying to you that the people you get close to will die or leave you that the food has bugs in and will give you cancer its all that catastrophising AND its the guilt you feel after a panic attack for how irrationally and selfish you acted and how you wish you could reverse time and be a different version of yourself who is braver
Beau Is Afraid like a bad dream. A very specific kind of bad dream.
That kind of nightmare that isn’t horrifying, but the kind that just stresses you out. Like, those dreams where there’s something you know you have to do, but things just keep getting in the way. Sometimes, many times, they are terrible things, other times they are just annoying. But you just cannot get to doing this thing that you have to do. No matter what.
I can see a lot of people not liking this movie. It’s very self indulgent on Ari Aster’s part, almost ridiculously so, and it’s not going to play well for crowds who need their hand held. But, for my small part, I liked it.
Actually got to watch Beau is Afraid today, and I’m so happy they made a film that embodies the terror and anxiety you feel at night when you think about all the terrible cringe shit you’ve done and how everyone hates you
Watching the difference between the Twitter migration mentality vs. the Reddit migration mentality is fucking hilarious.
Like, when Twitter users started moving over here everyone was pulling out all the stops and bringing back old fandoms that they were into and basically firing rent lowering shots by being super cringey.
And then all of the sudden when the Reddit refugees start showing up we’re like, “ah yes, pull up a log and gather around the dumpster fire. We’ll teach you how to not get killed by people hunting down bots and carve out a little area for you guys to relax and get used to the site before we throw you into the deep end of this hellsite that we call home. Tomorrow is Let Papyrus say Fuck day so you can prepare for that if you want. You want some hot coco and a blanket?”
