In theaters now from A4 Films!
MIDSOMMAR (2019)
Directed by Ari Aster
Written by Ari Aster
Starring Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, Vilhelm Blomgren, William Jackson Harper, Will Poulter, Ellora Torchia, Archie Madekwe, Henrik Norlén, Gunnel Fred, Isabelle Grill, Agnes Westerlund Rase, Julia Ragnarsson, Mats Blomgren, Lars Väringer, Anna Åström, Hampus Hallberg, Liv Mjönes, Louise Peterhoff, Katarina Weidhagen, Björn Andrésen, Tomas Engström, Dag Andersson, Lennart R. Svensson, Anders Beckman, Rebecka Johnston, Tove Skeidsvoll, Anders Back, Anki Larsson, Levente Puczkó-Smith, Frans Rosengarten, Vilmos Kolba, Mihály Kaszás, Gabi Fon, Zsolt Bojári, Klaudia Csányi, Anna Berentz, Austin R. Grant, Balázs Megyeri
Find out more about this film here
Ari Aster has a great movie in him. I just don’t think he’s made it yet. He’s come close. HEREDITARY had some fantastic performances, some shocking scenes, and a thick, true sense of dread in every frame. In many ways, MIDSOMMAR is the same thing. The problem is that it seems Aster hasn’t learned anything from the criticisms of his first feature and sort of doubles down on those mistakes in this one. That said, if you thought HEREDITARY was the bee’s knees, you’re most likely going to feel the same about this one.
MIDSOMMAR is, at its core, a film about a breakup. Or how hard it is for two damaged people to break up. Florence Pugh plays Dani, a college student studying psychology who has quite a few emotional problems of her own. Even before she suffers a devastating tragedy in the opening moments, Dani is fragile, dependent, and unbalanced. We get this information from Dani’s friend who she calls on the phone, and through the friends of her boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor) who all urge them to split up. After a family tragedy, Dani becomes even more dependent on Christian to the point of guilting the gullible and spineless Christian to get him to invite her on a research vacation to Sweden. While this was supposed to be a mancation, Dani joins them for a festival in the middle of the countryside that only occurs once every ninety years. Once there and under the influence of drugs, Dani, Christian and the rest begin to realize that all is not as hippy dippy happy as the villagers seem to be on the surface.
The cannibal films of the seventies and eighties got a bad rap because many saw them as fetishizing the native culture and being unsensitive and nationalistic in terms of objectifying and highlighting the otherness of foreign cultures. I find it interesting that this is so with cannibal films, but no one really mentions this while talking about folk land cult horrors like THE WICKER MAN and more recently KILL LIST—both of which are extremely and surprisingly similar in structure to MIDSOMMAR. While it seems that Aster goes to much length to make things look accurate, seeing everything through the eyes of the foreigners highlights to oddity of it all and feels somewhat insensitive in this age of great sensitivity. The scenery is quite beautiful and the few structures that stand in this countryside that has been adopted by this cult are dream-like and surreal with all sorts of odd angles. Adding to the otherness are the paintings, murals, and carvings which reveal the entire storyline if you linger on them long enough. Aster opens with such a mural that basically holds all of the elements at play in this story—something that would resonate more upon second viewing.
And MIDSOMMAR is a gorgeous film. The countryside, the flowing hills, the gorgeously set up camera work highlighting vivid and unearthly reds and yellows against a blue sky which barely dims for nightfall. There are scenes that definitely reflect an attention to every frame as being picturesque and memorable. It’s the type of meticulous work one rarely sees in modern cinema (maybe a Wes Anderson film and most of Kubrick’s stuff) as it really seems as if we are actors move around within the trappings of a painting rather than relying on fancy moving camerawork. There are more scenes than I can count that stand out as truly grotesque while still beautiful. Not an easy feat to accomplish.
The acting as well is phenomenal. While HEREDITARY features a few fantastic performances, MIDSOMMAR relies solely on the slight shoulders of Florence Pugh and boy does she deliver. She goes through a gauntlet of emotions and isn’t afraid to make her character look bad to achieve them. While much of the blame falls on Christian for being so wishy-washy, the crumbling relationship is equally because of Dani’s way of looking past Christian’s faults in order to simply not be alone with her thoughts. The entire trip is an excuse for her to make new memories and try to get away from the tragedy at home. This is not an easy character to play, but Pugh is able to add more depth than one usually sees in film and she manages to make you still care for her to boot. She most likely will have a grand future given this fantastic performance.
One of the biggest faults of HEREDITARY was that I felt it pulled the pin on the supernatural grenade a bit too late in the film—as if Aster was afraid to show this aspect until it was almost too late to do so. MIDSOMMAR hints at oddness going on very early in the film, so this one at least feels consistent all the way through. And that consistency is in a feeling of tangible dread that fills each scene. Because Pugh’s Dani is so grief stricken and we experience this horror as she does, that heavy feeling of emotional weight dangles over this entire film from the get-go and it’s anticipation for the drop of that weight that kept me on the edge of my seat for much of the film.
Unfortunately, Aster repeats himself—basically repeating the ritualistic ending of HEREDITARY in the third act of MIDSOMMAR. But while it took Aster the length of the film to have a circle of naked old ladies chanting in HEREDITARY, Aster relies on pretty much the same kind of ritual for the last half hour of MIDSOMMAR. This was likely to highlight the otherness of the culture these American students find themselves trapped in, but Aster seems to not know when to say when. His overindulgence in this two-and-a-half-hour film is his worst enemy and the film pays for it by being less effective. Scenes that are supposed to be horrific or emotionally shredding are prolonged to almost comic proportions. The audience even laughed a few times during the climax of this all-too-serious horror film and that is definitely not the intention of the filmmaker. The similarity of the ending of this film with THE WICKER MAN and KILL LIST, as well as HEREDITARY to a point, might have been easier to ignore had Aster edited it down. But Aster goes full on here and commits to the bit, leaving it all feel excessive and over-indulgent. Aster either should have had another trusted pair of eyes on this one and even if there was, someone should have told him to pick up the pace, quit smelling his own farts, and just get on with the ending already.
There is quite a lot of squishy and uncomfortable gore in MIDSOMMAR. Again, Aster decides to show it all instead of being more suggestive and brisk. So not only do we see the gore, but it is cut back to and repeated numerous times for shock value—of course, multiple viewings never result in the same shock to the point of it not even resonating anymore. There is a quite horrific opening sequence that is much more suggestive and emotionally scarring than anything the film ends with. I’m still not forgiving this one for repeating the same final act that was found in the most famous cult film ever (THE WICKER MAN). I can’t believe there is even a call back to Nicholas Cage’s bear suit in the so-bad-it’s-amazing remake of THE WICKER MAN and it’s meant to be taken completely seriously. The structure of MIDSOMMAR not only riffs on previous cult films, but it also is almost identical to HEREDITARY as it begins with a tragedy, focuses on that tragedy for the bulk of the film, and then have that lead the actors to a big tragic end. That said, this is a lush and appealing looking film. Pugh is a true find. I also commend A4’s ad team for finally smartening up and not saying this is the scariest film since THE EXORCIST as they did with the rest of their recent horror films. It’s a wonderfully made film. But if Aster delivers another one like this, it’s going to smell as if he is simply a one-trick pony repeating the same routine with different window dressing over and over again. Here’s hoping he proves me wrong next time.
I liked Midsommar, but Hereditary filled me with more dread. I thought the last 20minutes or so of Hereditary were terrifying.
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I liked Midsommar more than you did, but I agree Aster could probably benefit from learning to streamline himself a bit and not confuse things tonally. The tonal gap between what Aster intended and what he put together is acutely reflected in your comment:
” The audience even laughed a few times during the climax of this all-too-serious horror film and that is definitely not the intention of the filmmaker.”
Depending on what part you mean, the laughter was probably the correct response. Aster has explained that despite all the face-bashing it’s supposed to be darkly comic, NOT straightforward serious horror.
That’s part of the problem. I enjoyed the film more retroactively, after reading some of his explanations. The way the film was edited and scored went a long way toward creating a gap between what you were seeing and what you THOUGHT you’re supposed to feel about it. This might be one of the rare times where I would’ve actually enjoyed it more had I known ahead of time that it wasn’t straightforward horror and the comedic notes were intentional.
Anyway, even if Midsommar wasn’t a classic, I appreciate an interesting movie that misses the mark far more than I do a conventionally competent jump-scare machine.
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I pretty much agree with you and feel it is an accomplished film in many ways. Much better than the shock every five minute films that are churned out.
The scene I was talking about wasn’t the head bashing scene. It was during the climax when the elderly ladies were circling Christian having sex, moaning along with him, and even pushing his ass to make sure he was doing it right. I know it was supposed to be slightly comic in it’s absurdity, but there seemed to be a horrific element that is just lost in the translation. There were even laughs during the scene where the women consoling Dani when they began repeating her own sobs and hysterics. I think the problem with both scenes is that they go on too long and while there are scenes where Christian and Dani are in what the fuck moments, the lingering is excessive and almost fetishistic and exploitative, rather than crucial to move the plot forward.
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Yes, I figured those were the scenes you meant. Again, it’s only after reading Aster’s explanations that you can truly discern what he was trying to portray. The sex scene was supposed to be comical and the group-screaming scene was supposed to be cathartic–Dani was finally able to fully, openly grieve and have that emotion be acknowledged and accepted, unlike what she was getting from Christian.
But it was all presented as some kind of prolonged psychotic break, where it was unclear who’s drugged, who’s making conscious choices or whether the whole thing was simply meant as a tableau of complete, horrific WTF craziness. Not unlike how everything suddenly falls apart and falls into place at the end of Hereditary. Again, I partially blame the music and the inability to set a consistent tone.
As far as staying on scenes for an uncomfortably long time, that seems to be a growing trend in newer filmmakers. You see it in films form guys like Aster, David Lowery, Oz Perkins, etc. In fact, that’s pretty much the entirety of Hagazussa. On the one hand, I appreciate the camera just watching people doing people things, or not conveniently cutting away from violent acts. On the other hand, sometimes you end up watching several minutes of a guy involuntarily humping a girl while a crowd of nude older women chant and push his butt.
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