Midsommar (2019)

[baumer]

Discuss

[Webslinger]

After dazzling film buffs with last year’s brilliantly crafted Hereditary, writer-director Ari Aster swings for the fences with his follow-up, Midsommar – a devilishly twisted, leisurely-paced horror film that has the power to crawl under viewers’ skin. Like Hereditary, the horror in Midsommar has so many allegorical possibilities at play that it takes time and thought to process properly, and this psychological dimension enhances the deeply unnerving nature of the violence onscreen. Without giving away anything specific, it feels like a worthy companion piece to Aster’s previous film in its examination of how innocent people try – and fail – to cope with violence beyond their control or their comprehension. Rising star Florence Pugh shines in the lead role, in which she convincingly portrays her character’s fear, trauma, and increasingly drained reaction to the horrific occurrences around her. Pugh does an excellent job of capturing wide-eyed fear and all-consuming grief at different turns, and she succeeds in making her character a sympathetic audience window into the action. The tension between Pugh and Jack Reynor as her emotionally unresponsive boyfriend is believable and sells the use of the film’s horror as allegory for an especially nasty breakup, as per Aster’s comments in interviews.  There’s also some surprisingly effective gallows humor from the rest of the cast – particularly Will Poulter and William Jackson Harper in roles that will work particularly well for viewers who have seen their work elsewhere. That said, one can never escape the sense of dread that something horrific lurks just around the corner; in that regard, Aster does an excellent job of twisting the film’s beautiful scenery and bright design into a creepy, nightmarish atmosphere. The actual violence in the film is fairly minimal, but what’s present is presented so starkly that it’s hard to shake; moreover, the threat of violence and sense that something horrific must be coming are more than enough to keep a viewer on edge throughout much of the very long running time. Ultimately, Midsommar is not quite as coherent or efficient in its presentation as Hereditary, but it’s a highly ambitious and unnerving horror film that will linger in viewers’ memories for some time after the credits begin to roll. 

 

B+

 

Stray Thoughts:

- This observation from the second half of my Letterboxd entry is long, so into the spoiler tag it goes: 

Spoiler

I totally get the angle that the horror in the film is primarily a way of examining brutal emotions in a breakup, but I also think it's saying something about the omnipresence of both suicidality and the devaluing of human life. After all, the film is - in a manner of speaking - bookended with murder-suicides, and the deaths in the film have too many similarities to overlook. In the murder-suicide at the beginning, Dani's sister clearly puts a great deal of thought into her plan and feels that she must also take her parents as a matter of necessity; even though we only see the aftermath, what we see when the first responders enter the house is that she carried the whole thing out so methodically that you could describe it as ritualistic. Later, we see the old couple commit suicide in a precise ritualistic manner, and we get confirmation that members of the commune are generally fixated on their own eventual suicides as a necessity they look forward to carrying out - so much so that two men even volunteer to be part of the sacrifice at the end. And these people - like Dani's sister - see no problem with taking other people's lives as part of their ritual. Whereas the sister sees it as necessary for some reason, the commune sees murder not only as necessary, but also as a sacred act. Human life does not have value to the commune if it interferes with their intentions, just as the lives of Dani's parents do not matter to her sister as soon as she decides to go through with her unspeakable act. The fact that even a group totally removed from the trappings of society and all its ills still fixates on death so openly and methodically speaks to humanity's inability to escape violence in even the most serene of circumstances - just as Dani ultimately cannot escape the trauma she has experienced and eventually succumbs to the the commune's line of thinking. For all her effort to process and move past the trauma violence has left her, it ultimately breaks her.

 

- The violence is suuuuper messed up in its presentation, but it wasn't quite as visceral as I was expecting. I know there's been some speculation about how close this film came to the dreaded NC-17, but if it had trouble with the MPAA, I'm guessing it was more about the sex scene (which is pretty graphic even for an R-rated film, tbh) than the violence. That being said, Ari Aster still has one hell of a sick mind. Some of those deaths feel like him responding to people who thought the deaths in Hereditary were unnerving with a "Hold my beer."

Edited July 5, 2019 by Webslinger

[MOVIEGUY]

This was good. The slow burn was done very well, but there were some parts where I did find myself getting a little bored. Like towards the end I was kinda feeling like "Alright just get to the crazy shit already." Which speaking of, wasn't as crazy as I had built up in my head after all the hype. It's definitely a fucked up movie, but I wasn't really "shocked" by the ending, it's a built up to in a way where you can tell exactly where the story is going and it just feels inevitable and doomed. Which isn't a bad thing, I liked that build up and sense of dread. The gnarliest part of the movie was the cliff suicide, now THAT was pretty shocking. Also the uh... conception was hilariously fucked up, my audience got a kick out of that.

Edited July 4, 2019 by MOVIEGUY

[CloneWars]

Very disturbing but interesting. Not sure what to grade it.

[Ipickthiswhiterose]

A for me. One of the best horror movies of the 21st Century and takes down Booksmart for my favourite film of the year.

 

Full review is spoiler heavy.

 

Spoiler

Ultimately if has just as much in common with Eggers' The VVitch than Aster's previous Hereditary in that it relaxes back on itself and asks what the true horror is.

 

For Florence Pugh's Dani the ultimate horrors are her own sisters betrayal (and as far as this film is concerned, suicide is a brutal and unfair act of violence against the living) and her moribund, parasitic boyfriend (I strongly disagree with readings that this is about a breakup - Christian is a truly appalling person and the focus is exclusively about and on Dani): the memories and dynamics that are decaying her and causing a premature death while she should be in the Midsommar of her life. And it is only by putting those things down, realising that she is bountiful and has all the potential within her, and expunging those other things from her life that she is able to be reborn - new life reviving from necessary death.

 

The key sequence in the film where Dani, desperate and distraught at seeing her partner's infidelity, finds herself caught and surrounded by her fellow young women and they return her cries, working towards a true ritual in which Dani slowly acquires power and command from her screams, harks back clearly to her ineffectual wailing following her family's death - Christian present but not present - and her conversation with Pelle about every feeling 'held'. It is her she finds her purpose and her power.

 

Nowhere near as shocking to anyone with a basic understanding of pagan sensibilities - even if the nature of the cult here is drastically stretched and extreme artistic license taken with the implications of those beliefs - Midsommar is tonally consistent and satisfyingly returns agency to the characters following the fatalism of Hereditary. Everyone here deserves and is in control of their fate, even if it doesn't feel that way at the time.

 

Edited July 5, 2019 by Ipickthiswhiterose

[MOVIEGUY]

Oh I forgot to mention in my review the score is AWESOME, maybe the best part of the movie.

[baumer]

Pretty much liked all of it.  I don't think it needed to be 2.5 hours long and I think some of the decisions the characters make are questionable and more in tune with what Friday the 13th characters would do (like at one point I was expecting some of them to say "I'll be right back").  But other than those small complaints, it's a terrific horror movie.  It develops the characters and it allows you to get to know them to the point where you love or despise them so that when the messed up stuff does happen you empathize and feel for what they go through.  I didn't care for Hereditary, not because Ari Aster didn't do some good things in it but because the story and the plot and the ending especially, were just way too dumb for me.....Midsommar rectifies all of that.  I'd recommend this to everyone.  It's violent and brutal and I enjoyed all of it.  And FWIW, me and Tele both called the Wicker Man ending after the first trailer, which came out months ago.

 

8.5/10

[La Binoche]

I think I liked this better than Hereditary bc it doesnt trip over itself trying to explain the supernatural mythology. It's too long, though, and lags in parts. I also wish it didnt borrow from Wicker Man THAT FREELY. Still, I was on for the ride. B+

[The Panda]

Really enjoyed the movie, it’s a slow catharsis of grief as you watch all of the old die and the birth of the new!  

 

Put a smile on your face May Queen, let the bears burn!

 

A

[filmlover]

Ari Aster is a gifted filmmaker with an undeniable ability to craft images that stick with you long after the film has concluded. That much was obvious from Hereditary and it is even more so in Midsommar, a sunlit haunted painting of a movie. I think this works just as well as his previous movie, though there are glaring pacing issues, as I just don't think this justified being nearly 2.5 hours long. I certainly wasn't ever bored by what was happening but there were times where I thought "can we move it along a little bit quicker" since we know that things will eventually go off the rails. It gets under your skin though (that cliff scene yeesh), and has a lot more on its mind than the usual horror movie. Florence Pugh is clearly a magnetic actress, successfully conveying all the different emotions Dani feels as the story moves along, while Jack Reynor is commendable for his willingness to embrace all that he must endure later in the movie. I still think that if Aster's storytelling could match up to his impeccable filmmaking, he could become an all-timer. As is, he is definitely one worth keeping an eye on in the future. B

[Morieris]

Despite hiding behind my hands during the cliff scenes, I didn't find this movie disturbing....until the end, where it's left open if Dani joins this cult or not.

Spoiler

 

She hasn't seen what we've seen at points  - That one dude being blood-eagled in the chicken coop, Mark wearing his own face, Josh becoming compost apparently, whatever happened to Cathy.

 

I was far more frightened at the concept that people can approach you in your lowest hour...and manipulate you to become one of them because essentially no one is looking out for you and you're not in the best state of mind.

 

I do think it took a bit long to get rolling. The score was cool, and yet somehow I find myself humming "Anthem" from Us right now instead.

Edited July 17, 2019 by Morieris

[The Stingray]

Excellent build-up and first half, but the ending felt anti-climactic and unoriginal. Yet another sacrifice foreigners to appease old gods type of thing. The lead actress was sensational, tho.
 

[Joel M]

After seeing it a second time it's one of the best movies of the year for me.

 

I was lukewarm on Hereditary but this one really got me. The atmosphere and dreamlike nature of it even before they go to the cult is intoxicating and while you know where all this is going, it was very satsfying watching every little thing falling into place for the grand finale. But the best thing about it for me was the main couple and the way you get an in depth almost uncomfortable look into their relationship. Part of it is the actors which are both really good in it, but I think most of it is how Ari Aster builds a dozen little interactions between them that reveal everything about them and their dynamic without almost any exposition. You see it in how Danny refuses to call Christian out for anything because he's the only thing she has left. You see it in Christian's frustration who tries to do the "responsible" thing because of her  family's suicide but at the same time wishes she could go away. That's what gives the movie most of its power to me. Despite everyone else being creepy zombiefied cultists or stock horror stereotypes, Dani and Christian feel almost too real next to them. 

 

And that makes the not at all surprising ending hitting a lot harder. In a thematic level yeah she gets to have a "family" again and he gets punished for being spineless and selfish, but in a more literal way they are both being manipulated the entire time. The cult uses their personal failings and flaws against them because they can't have an honest conversation between them. What Christian should have done was not protract this thing forever since it is already over for him when the movie starts, break up with her despite the family tragedy but he just can't do it, how could he?

Dani who is much more sympathetic because of her tragedy is not completely blameless either. I think the whole time she knows Christian was phazing her out and he's staying with her because of what happened and chooses to look the other way and make excuses for him every time. This toxic passive-agressiveness is literally what seals their fates. You keep watching them fail to do the right thing but they can't because of who they are.

[Ipickthiswhiterose]

On 1/2/2020 at 12:40 PM, Joel M said:

What Christian should have done was not protract this thing forever since it is already over for him when the movie starts, break up with her despite the family tragedy but he just can't do it, how could he?

Dani who is much more sympathetic because of her tragedy is not completely blameless either. I think the whole time she knows Christian was phazing her out and he's staying with her because of what happened and chooses to look the other way and make excuses for him every time. This toxic passive-agressiveness is literally what seals their fates. You keep watching them fail to do the right thing but they can't because of who they are.

A very close friend of mine was about to break up with his girlfriend the week she had an horrific accident and was left in a coma for nearly a month.

 

Naturally he didnt then break up with her. The moribund relationship following this was so similar to the dynamic in this film it was chilling. Aster captured this kind of dynamic of living death, of two people ruining everything the other could be, with perfection.

[Cinema Slurs]

One of the more original horror movies from last year, but thats not saying al ot when the competition is Annabelle Comes Home .......... (The lighthouse isn't out in the UK yet just to make that clear).

 

Its good but has several problems and is a downgrade from Hereditary although both films are similar.

 

I did a review for Midsommar along with the afore mentioned Annabelle Film on the YT channel. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObfIZI9kdOY