Ari Aster (born July 15, 1986) is an American film writer-director and producer known for his work in the genres of psychological horror and family drama, with recurring elements of black comedy and satire.
After becoming obsessed with films as a child (namely in the horror genre), he pursued his passion by studying film at what is now the Santa Fe University of Art and Designnote before getting a Master of Fine Arts in directing at AFI Conservatory, where he met many of his future collaborators.
For the next few years, Aster would make a name for himself with a series of controversial and provocative short films, the most popular being The Strange Thing About the Johnsons, that would eventually attract the attention of independent entertainment company A24, after which he transitioned to making feature films. The company has distributed all of his features thus far, with his first two (Hereditary and Midsommar) going on to become some of their biggest commercial successes, and his third (Beau Is Afraid) being their most expensive film at the time with a budget of $35 million.note
Shortly before Midsommar's release, Aster announced
that he and Lars Knudsen, co-producer of both of his first two features, had started a production company called Square Peg, self-described as "a home for artists, weirdos and freaks", that will develop and produce film and TV projects for a number of emerging artists, as well as future projects by Aster.
Filmography:
As director
- TDF Really Works (short; 2011)
- The Strange Thing About the Johnsons (short; 2011)
- Beau (short; 2011) note
- Munchausen (short; 2013)
- Basically (short; 2014)
- The Turtle's Head (short; 2014)
- C'est La Vie (short; 2016)
- Hereditary (feature; 2018)
- Midsommar (feature; 2019)
- Beau Is Afraid (feature; 2023)
As producer
- Dream Scenario (2023)
Tropes applying to his films:
- Abusive Parents: While inverted in The Strange Thing About the Johnsons, his films Munchausen, Hereditary, and Beau Is Afraid played this trope straight and explore it.
- The Bad Guy Wins: What make his films unsettling is that the antagonists come out on top in one way or another — and as The Strange Thing About The Johnsons demonstrates, even if they are defeated, they've already wrought so much damage that it means absolutely nothing.
- Black Comedy: Aster's sense of humor is rooted in things you'll definitely feel uncomfortable laughing at, often appearing in the form of bathos.
- Body Horror: Played for horror in his features, and for equal parts horror and very dark comedy in TDF Really Works and The Turtle's Head.
- Creator Cameo: Aster cameos in Beau as a hostile neighbor with one line to the protagonist ("You're fucked, pal!"), in Strange Thing as Dr. Storm Rickles, Ph.D, who made the "words of encouragement" tape that Sidney listens to, and in Hereditary as a voice calling Annie about her art exhibit.
- Creator Thumbprint: Many of his works share common traits:
- Character-wise...
- Protagonists (preferably female) with intense family trauma and anxiety issues.
- Characters letting out extremely realistic wails of grief following a deeply traumatic event.
- Characters crossing the Despair Event Horizon and/or losing their mind.
- Visual-wise...
- Symmetrical wide shots.
- Long, patiently-paced takes.
- Extreme violence against people's heads/faces, usually with a subsequent Gross-Up Close-Up of what's left.
- Full-frontal nudity used for Fan Disservice and horror.
- Character-wise...
- Despair Event Horizon: Characters in his works have a tendency to cross this.
- Downer Ending: Many of his films end this way.
- Dysfunctional Family: Pretty common in his films.
- Evil Matriarch: A recurring trope in his feature films so far, with Ellen in Hereditary and Mona in Beau is Afraid being straight examples, while Midsommar can be considered a journey into this for Dani.
- Facial Horror: Head trauma has been at the center of the most disturbing parts of his features; according to public statements from Aster, multiple unreleased scripts of his also involve it in some way.
- Gag Penis: Abnormalities involving male genitalia as a form of humor (and horror) is included in some of his movies, like in the shorts TDF Really Works and The Turtle's Head or in the feature Beau is Afraid.
- Gainax Ending: Bizarre endings have been included in his feature work (Hereditary) and his short work (Beau).
- Gorn: Unless you have a brown bag or two on hand, you'd best not go into an Aster film expecting the squeaky clean brand of violence.
- Insane Troll Logic: Predominantly in his absurdist short films, though his features still maintain a certain unhinged quality.
- Kill It with Fire: Fiery deaths are a recurring factor in his work.
- C'est La Vie references the protagonist's parents' death in an accidental fire.
- Johnsons has an attempted murder by fireplace.
- Both of his first two features have a character being burned alive.
- Leave the Camera Running: Long, uninterrupted takes abound in each of his movies.
- Offing the Offspring: A running theme of mothers killing, or attempting to kill, their sons.
- Refuge in Audacity: A majority of his films seem to be in full-blown taboo topics that he knows will piss or upset people off, but he rolls with it. The Strange Thing About the Johnsons in particular is infamous for this specific factor and actually got him some acknowledgement before he made it big with Hereditary.
- Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism: Aster's works are as cynical as cynical can get, with plenty of trauma, backstabbing, horror and despair to go around.
- Trauma Conga Line: His films are absolutely merciless to their protagonists, and none of them ever receive happy endings, either.
- Troll: Downplayed; he doesn't throw it in people's faces much, but he's fully aware of the public's reaction to his work and doesn't seem to be apologizing for it anytime soon.
- Violence Is Disturbing: Taken to significant extremes, with Charlie's death in Hereditary and the Ättestupa in Midsommar being prime demonstrations.
