Beau Is Afraid

The studio A24 has been on a tear lately, sweeping the Oscars and winning best director and best picture in the same year—having previously won best picture in 2017 for Moonlight. If the trailer for Beau Is Afraid in any indication, that streak of quality for art film fans everywhere appears poised to continue. Directed by Ari Aster and starring Joaquin Phoenix, the titular character faces the harrowing task of facing his greatest fears after the sudden death of his mother.

The trailer begins ominously, as low strings accompany a Phoenix whose face has seen some injuries. We also hear an off-screen voice—presumably that of Beau’s mother. Screaming and a fully disorienting set of sounds and visuals give way to an sudden silencing at 0:18, with nothing but room tone and a fairly close of shot of Beau (Phoenix). At 0:22 we get Supertramp’s 1978 song “Goodbye Stranger” alongside the studio’s title card—even more of a contrast from the half minute of horror trailer sounds we just heard. We hear a voice message from Beau’s mother that’s uplifting, but this is all subverted at 0:39 as the song is replaced with a low, ominous synth in a jarringly different key (one whole step below the song’s key, for those keeping score). The juxtaposition of earlier horror sounds with the calming mother’s voice after 0:22 makes us wonder if Beau is another Norman Bates from Psycho (or Joker for that matter).

At 0:56 we get an even more inventive sonic design as this new track slows down as if being stopped on a vinyl player; at 0:58 the track sounds muffled, put through a gate filter, and a ticking sound is added. Notice the synch points at 1:20 with the phone’s flashlight, and of course at 1:23, with Beau running through the door’s glass. At 1:25, the gate filter is taken off as Beau runs through the woods, lending even more emphasis to the film as a personal psychological journey for Beau—both escaping and confronting his fears. At 1:29 the track becomes truly confounding, using samples from the song cut, spliced, and repeated like a dance remix—just as the landscapes around Beau become surrealist, like miniature set pieces.

At 1:47 the regular track returns, now with high strings as we see an action montage that we usually get at this point in the trailer. Notably, it ends not on the original song but on a final, ethereal chord that imparts a sense of wonder that’s in keeping with the rest of the trailer, and yet that at the same time belies the scenes of horror playing out before us.

This trailer does something with a preexisting song we don’t typically hear. Rather than a cover version or an arrangement that mixes in or layers epic music tropes, the editors clearly made bespoke edits that speak to the harrowing psychological journey that Beau is undertaking. Using gate filters, samples, and other effects, but by and large keeping to the original song’s material as a base, the trailer for _Beau Is Afraid _features an ironically functioning musical arrangement that feels tailor-edited. By veering away from lifting from the existing slate of modern trailer music tropes, it’s much more memorable and persuasive as a result.

Beau Is Afraid is set for release in theatres April 21st.

— Curtis Perry