Midsommar

Starring: Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, Vilheim Blomgren, William Jackson Harper, Will Poulter, Ellora Torchia, Archie Madekwe, Henrik Norlen, Gunnel Fred
Directed by: Ari Aster
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery
2019

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A group of friends travel to an isolated locale in Sweden where they engage in a pagan festival that becomes increasingly bizarre.

Review:

Tim: I'm still reeling from Ari Aster's Hereditary, one of the best horror movies I've seen in many years. I was so intrigued to watch his follow up film, Midsommar. It's interesting because this film felt like a big departure from the previous movie. It's not nearly as scary. It's not really that scary at all. It's creepy, absolutely. It's off-putting, it makes you uncomfortable. But, it's a very different horror movie. I still loved his approach and I'm a still a big fan of this movie, even if it doesn't reach the heights of his previous film.

The premise here is a great one. A group of friends travel to Sweden to visit the home of a college friend. They arrive in this isolated location and soon get swept up in these pagan rituals. They don't fully understand them and obviously, increasingly creepy things happen. In some ways, the basic structure of the film feels very predictable. A group of friends run into spooky stuff and start dying. Hundreds of horror movies follow that formula. Aster absolutely puts his own spin on it. It never feels redundant or generic, even though it follows the same basic formula. I enjoyed how Aster filmed this- it makes you feel off balance. You kind of understand how uncomfortable it would be to find yourself in an unfamiliar culture where you don't understand what is happening. It makes it difficult to assess how worrisome certain events are. Should you be legitimately worried about something that may potentially cause you harm or death, or is it just a factor of a different culture and is harmless? It's hard to make sense of everything this film throws at you, so you resonant powerfully with these characters. That might be Aster's greatest achievement with this film. You feel like it's less a movie and more a journey that you're taking with these characters. That is exceptionally difficult to pull off.

The movie's greatest strengths is the sense of worry about what might happen next. That feeling of dread is oftentimes palpable and a big reason why this movie is so effectively creepy. On the other hand, though, the movie doesn't really throw anything at you that you haven't seen before or can't handle. It felt like Hereditary was so frightening, it often felt disturbing. Even the wilder aspects of this film felt somewhat tame. My wife hates horror movies and she was able to sit through the whole thing. That speaks volumes- this movie is certainly more creepy, it's not that frightening or scary at all. This might hurt the movie a little, but I suppose it wasn't Aster's intent. It makes the film a little less memorable, but it's still effective. The cast might not be incredibly memorable, but they are solid. Florence Pugh was definitely a standout. She's an impressive actress and has demonstrated she has serious range. I didn't always love her performance, but it was effective. I liked her in the role and she made the movie better. Jack Reynor was okay, but I'm not convinced he is a very good actor. He mostly worked in this role, but he didn't win me over. Vilhelm Blomgren was quite good. William Jackson Harper was solid. I like Will Poulter and for the most part, he worked. I didn't have a lot of complaints about the cast, but outside of Pugh, no one really delivered a top notch performance.

I really enjoyed the visuals of the film. The cinematography was excellent. Aster has this way of making his movies look artistic, so the subject matter feels amplified. So many horror movies look the same visually, so they all blend in together. That's not the case here- this movie certainly has a distinct look.

I might not have enjoyed Midsommar quite as much as Hereditary, but you have to hear that this is still one of the most effective horror movies I've seen in recent years. Aster is firmly on the map now- with a great movie followed by a very effective one, I'm in for whatever he does from now on. I really enjoyed this creepy, thought-provoking movie.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Hereditary, Fighting with My Family