My Thoughts on Midsommar

Hereditary was an interesting film. The smash horror of last summer, it was such an unbelievably ambitious debut, that like I said in my review at the time, is largely pretty good despite some issues. I suppose one surprise is how soon Ari Aster is following it up, with just over a year between Hereditary and Midsommar. Such a small gap could be a bad thing. Maybe he's rushing himself, not giving himself enough time to properly learn or grow. Actually watching Midsommar makes me realise that that's probably not the case, because not only do I think it's better than Hereditary by some way, but I also think that this is the film that establishes something that his first film only suggested: Ari Aster is the real deal. Midsommar is an incredibly disturbing film, and while I'm not going to go into any specific details (for spoiler reasons and content reasons), I'd still advise some reader discretion, because this film contains some seriously difficult subject matter. I'll try to be vague, but just in case, you have been warned

Midsommar follows Florence Pugh's Dani, a young woman whose life is drastically, horrifying altered by a gut wrenching tragedy. The film's first fifteen minutes are it's best sequence, excellently made, quietly devastating and ridiculously efficient in how it tells its story. This sets up the absolute madness that follows, and does so beautifully. Dani's boyfriend Christian invites her on a trip to Sweden with his friends to attend a midsummer festival. As you can imagine, this goes south very, very quickly. The film is slow, hypnotic and almost ethereal. Most of it takes place in daylight, which makes everything that goes down doubly eerie. Aster really takes his time getting into the horror, which makes Dani's trauma really feel like it resonates. It's a dreamy drift into madness, and its greatest strength is how it holds everything back for most of its run. The explicit details (and they are very explicit) are only really revealed near the end, but it's that constant feeling of unease that makes this film so effective. It's not that nothing is happening, it's that the horror takes its time to arrive, and when it does, you'd better strap yourself in. That feeling of anticipating something disturbing is one that's at the heart of this film, and something that I definitely had watching it.

I've seen some comparisons to The Wicker Man, and though that's definitely understandable, I actually saw more similarities between this and Don't Look Now. Both films feature protagonists traveling abroad following a tragedy, only to discover unimaginable horror. Oh yeah, and both films contain unspeakably graphic sex scenes. I'm not going to call it "Don't Look Now for the modern age" or anything silly like that, but I do think that Nicolas Roeg's film is a helpful point of reference for this one, as it deals with some pretty similar themes and ideas.

I know I said this earlier, but it really can't be overstated how disturbing this film is. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but the film is such an unpleasant experience, not just because of the content, but also the length and pacing. This is not a short movie, and the slow, deliberate way that Aster unfolds the story makes it a really tough film to sit through. Much as I really enjoyed it (enjoyed might be the wrong word here), I doubt I'll watch it again, because the sense of dread is so overwhelming and oppressive, and the things that happen are so extreme. Credit to Ari Aster, he created one seriously powerful horror experience.

Midsommar is one crazy trip. It's deeply unpleasant watch that I'm not sure I can exactly recommend, but as a pure work if horror, it's one of the strongest in recent memory. Beginning with tragedy and ending with.... flowers and bears, it's a pure descent into colourful hell, and it's awesome to see Ari Aster finally finding his groove. He feels so confident behind the camera, keeping everything controlled to just the right level, while also giving the film room to be woozy and dreamlike. He unleashes chaos gradually, like a pastel explosion in slow motion, and that's definitely the film's strongest attribute. It takes its time in revealing its mysteries, but when it does, boy is it spectacular, and deeply messed up. The performances are phenomenal, especially Florence Pugh, who portrays the bone deep trauma of her character excellently. Jack Reynor continues his impressive winning streak as a character who's honestly kind of an asshole, which he actually plays quite well. Will Poulter gives good douchebag, doing something that ultimately results in one of the film's more horrifying scenes (careful around the ancestral tree). These are the standouts, but the whole cast are impressive here. Midsommar is a really strong piece of work, and it really convinces me that Ari Aster is a great horror storyteller, something that Hereditary didn't exactly do. This is a carefully curated voyage into sun soaked doom. Watch it, but do so at your own risk.