"I accidentally drank mouthwash Friday night. You can't get stomach cancer that way?"

I've never read much about who Ari Aster is as a person or really considered where he draws his inspiration from, but based on his trio of films so far (particularly this one) the man is clearly working through some serious shit!
I heard this referred to as Homer's Odyssey by way of Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York which I thought was quite apt, but of course replete with Asters trademark stark and bluntly uncomfortable tone.
Here he unpacks his fantastic fear of everything; a surreal and absurdist tale covering the spectrum of one mans neuroses and anxieties as he navigates his way to his overbearing mother's funeral, encountering a variety of strange people and situations on the way that will force him to confront his past, present and future(?) played by Joaquin Phoenix's most unreliable of narrators, Beau.
It's a tour de force piece of filmmaking from Aster and an incredible performance from Phoenix; one of those roles where you can't imagine anyone else playing it. Both protagonist and antagonist, sympathetic and infuriating in equal measure. A pathetic yet put upon wreck of a man riddled with past traumas, but presented in a fashion where it's hard to discern to what extent, if at all, any of what transpires actually happened.
After only one viewing I'm sure there's a ton of little details I've missed but I have my ideas about what was maybe going on, but nevertheless I still found this a profoundly disturbing, poignant and very funny journey through Beau's paranoid delusions, that despite being delivered in the most detached and heightened reality possible, I found worrying relatable in parts.
Maybe not the out and out horror people were expecting, (or wanting, but actually there are still some nightmarish visuals on display) probably making this his most divisive film to date, but also probably his most personal, therefore making this some of his best work I reckon. It exhaustively crystallising what he's all about. Unlike his last two films I fell in line with its brilliance straight away. Maybe because there was a fair bit less hype surrounding this, (so less expectation) or the fact that I went into this with a better idea of what to expect, but I thought this was just brilliant and can't wait to check it out again.
They really do fuck you up, your mum and dad!