Midsommar (2019)
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Midsommar Movie Review
Midsommar is a 2019 horror film directed by Ari Aster and starring Florence Pugh. It’s such a strongly artistic, rich movie that definitely has its flaws.
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“So we just gonna ignore the bear then?“
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With their relationship in trouble, a young American couple travel to a fabled Swedish midsummer festival where a seemingly pastoral paradise transforms into a sinister, dread-soaked nightmare as the locals reveal their terrifying agenda. Apparently the movie is based on the real practices that happened throughout Sweden’s history which made it all the more terrifying.
Midsommar is a very long movie, at around two and a half hours. However, it did not feel long to me. Yes, its build-up is very long and it is leisurely paced, but the atmosphere is so gripping that it occupied my interest throughout, and especially afterwards as it’s the kind of movie that gets better and better upon further evaluation of it.
I am of course talking about its themes. Yes, this film is incredibly rich thematically speaking. Most found that toxic relationship theme the most interesting one, but not me as for me the clinginess and neediness was even better explored. But the highlight has to be the nationalism aspect to it along with cultural ignorance which is so subtly, but incredibly realistically portrayed through these Americans justifying these horrific crimes owing to ignorance.
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The rituals, the mythology and the dangers of cults are horrifically showcased in one grounded in reality movie which is crazy in its proceedings, but so detailed and not sensational in approach which made it extremely powerful and disturbing. I personally found the senicide scene the most horrifying thanks to its score, camera angles and close-ups. But the entire finale is incredibly powerful as well, and of course batshit crazy.
The movie is mostly great on all fronts expect for the acting/characterization. There is one exception and that is Florence Pugh. Her delivery is terrific as she’s quite a strong new talent, and her Dani is the most complex person in the movie. Her decision in the end regarding her boyfriend was one of the highlights and it made sense despite it not seeming as such at first. And her sense of belonging despite being in this horrible cult owing to her tragic backstory was extremely well emphasized and the film is very complex in that regard.
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However, all of the others are so bad and so annoying. Jack Reynor as Christian is so mediocre and this role needed a better performer. Will Poulter is good as he always is, but his character is so stupid. Which brings me to my next point – the stupidity of these characters was simply unbearable for me. This is one of the most extreme examples of horror movie characters acting dumb and the entire scenario hinging on their foolishness. Nobody in their right mind would stay after witnessing those ritual suicides so that made the movie very annoying and the characters both dumb and unlikable.
But Midsommar finds humor in those situations as its cringe humor can be quite good, though annoying at times, but interesting nonetheless. The dialogue is okay, but overall the emotion and unpredictability made ‘Hereditary’ a better genre film. But Ari Aster still is a promising auteur with a knack for great concepts, but he needs to execute his films a bit better.
Still, his direction here is mostly terrific, and I found the score great and the atmosphere amazing. The cinematography is its best part as the use of bright colors and daylight contrasted with the darkness of the story made it a very authentic cinematic experience. Some of the shots are so mesmerizing and its setting is beautifully utilized leading to a very artistic indie flick.
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Ari Aster, just like Jordan Peele, is an auteur who is great at terrific concepts, but who still needs to improve his execution a bit. I prefer Hereditary as that film was less flawed, but still Midsommar is undeniably impressive on multiple fronts. It not only explores toxic relationships and co-dependency so well, but it deals with cults and cultural ignorance very potently. It’s a thematically rich, but also incredibly artistic movie thanks to particularly amazing cinematography where the daylight and bright colors are authentically contrasted with the immense darkness of the story. Among the scares, the senicide scene was the most disturbing while the finale is the most memorable. The cringe humor can be good and bad depending on the scene. It’s a long movie that is still gripping owing to its impressive atmosphere, but the acting besides Florence Pugh was not all that great, and the characters are uniformly unlikable and stupid. This is an extreme example of a horror film hinging on its incredibly dumb characters for it to work as they entirely ignore any warning signs that no sane person would ever disregard.
