Beau Wasserman (Joaquin Phoenix) is a paranoid man living in the worst neighborhood I have ever seen in any movie ever. His wealthy and overbearing mother Mona (Patti LuPone) runs a large corporation whose corporate logo is omnipresent in the world of the movie, even appearing as one of the production companies before the movie. Beau is supposed to go home for the anniversary of his father’s death, an incident that Beau was told happened at the exact moment of his conception, an incident that was a result of a heart murmur that Beau also apparently has. As such, Beau is a middle-aged virgin who is afraid of everything, and possibly for a good reason considering the world he lives in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, a freak chandelier accident kills Beau’s mother, and he needs to get home for the funeral, something that apparently will not happen until he gets there for some reason. To say Beau has a hard time returning home is putting it mildly: Beau is restrained from getting home in every way possible, even as he keeps trying. And this is more than just a car breaking down. He’s physically injured, no one really listens to him, and even friendly people he meets aren’t really helping him. All the while, Beau works to get home, whether he wants to be there or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OK, honestly, this one is really weird. I spent a good deal of time just trying to figure out whether everything happening around Beau was really happening or was just something in his mind. I’d be inclined to think the latter, but that weirdness never goes away and is likewise never really explained. This isn’t the sort of movie that explains things, and the result is a movie that is essentially one large existential nightmare for Beau, one where everyone he meets either ignores him or seems to threaten him. Whatever is going on with Beau, his emotionally abusive mother, even after she’s died, weighs heavily on him to the point where he can’t seem to get anything right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n