Beau Is Afraid15

Directed by Ari Aster | USA | 2023 | 2h 58m | Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Ryan, Nathan Lane, Parker Posey, Richard Kind

Living alone in a rundown downtown apartment and beset by paranoid anxiety, a middle-aged man prepares to visit his mother and inadvertently embarks on a mind-bending odyssey to confront his darkest fears. Academy Award winner Joaquin Phoenix stars in this brilliantly baffling psychological epic by the director of modern horror classics Hereditary and Midsommer.

Reviews

‘What began as a comically exaggerated paranoid farce ends as an audacious slice of surreal, Charlie Kaufman-esque purgatorial art, likely to draw admirers as much as a sense of alienation.’
★★★★
John Nugent, Empire Magazine

‘At points, it’s a stress-watch to rival the Safdie bros’ nerve-shredder Uncut Gems. But it’s also a deeply funny Freudian head-shag, laden with Jewish guilt and unresolved mummy issues.’
★★★★
Jordan Farley, Total Film

Sorry - you missed it!

We showed Beau Is Afraid between June 9, 2023 and June 15, 2023.

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What else is on?

Today (Friday 18th July)

15:15

From Hilde, with Love 15
2h 5m | German w/ English subtitles
In Nazi-era Berlin, resistance fighter Hilde risks everything for love and liberty. Arrested while pregnant, she faces a harrowing fate with quiet defiance. This stirring true story is a moving tribute to resilience, sacrifice, and courage under impossible circumstances.

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18:00

The Shrouds 15
1h 59m
When futuristic tech lets the living watch the dead, one grieving man’s obsession turns sinister after his wife’s grave is desecrated. David Cronenberg returns with a chilling, cerebral thriller about grief, surveillance, and the eerie intersection of life and death.

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20:30

Pavements 15
2h 8m
1990s indie rock icons Pavement reunite for a sold-out 2022 tour just as bizarre tributes emerge, from a musical to a museum to a biopic. Alex Ross Perry directs a playful, surreal docu-satire blending fact, fiction, and fandom.

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Tomorrow (Saturday 19th July)

15:15

The Piano Teacher 18
2h 11m | French & German w/ English subtitles
Behind Erika’s icy control lies a world of suppressed longing. When a student awakens her darkest desires, obsession erupts. Isabelle Huppert stuns in Michael Haneke’s disturbing tale of power, repression, and unraveling identity. A bracing psychological masterpiece.

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18:00

Le Samouraï 12A
1h 45m | French w/ English subtitles
Jef Costello is a hitman of few words and exacting precision, until a botched job puts him in everyone’s crosshairs. Jean-Pierre Melville’s stylish noir is a minimalist masterpiece of cool detachment, silent tension, and existential menace.

Book here

20:45

The Shrouds 15
1h 59m
When futuristic tech lets the living watch the dead, one grieving man’s obsession turns sinister after his wife’s grave is desecrated. David Cronenberg returns with a chilling, cerebral thriller about grief, surveillance, and the eerie intersection of life and death.

Book here


Plan your visit

Our beautiful art deco inspired auditorium can be found just off East Oxford's Cowley Road. We are open 7 days a week. We open the cinema and box office 30 minutes before the scheduled start time of each film, and the Box Office then closes 10 minutes after the film starts. We don’t show adverts, just a couple of trailers, so don't be late as the film itself starts very close to the advertised time!