Midsommar Discussion (Spoilers, yes)
primesuspect
Beepin n' BoopinDetroit, MI Icrontian
Ari Aster has proven without a doubt that he is a master horror filmmaker, and his partnership with composer Bobby Krlic has borne evil fruit once again. Many of you know how much I loved Hereditary, and so I was super hype to see Midsommar.... and the hype was worth it.
One of the hallmarks of Hereditary was the slow and almost perfect tension ramp to the shocking and violent conclusion. Midsommar once again shows that Aster has a tremendous amount of control over the tension curve in his films; the movie starts out with a slow, weird ramp-up, and as we see the friend crew being assembled for the trip, get a hint of the awkwardness between them all, then follow them to Sweden, meeting the Hårga for the first time, their first drug use, and so on... it just gets a little bit weirder and weirder as the movie goes on.
The first "wtf" moment comes when Josh says "Are we just going to ignore the bear then?" as they walk by a giant caged grizzly bear. That's a signal that the next phase of weirdness is about to begin.
By the time the final act comes, when Dani becomes the May Queen, and suddenly can speak Swedish and perform ancient rituals, we're prepared for it because of the slow but steady introduction of weirdness. So, seeing Josh's foot buried in the garden, or seeing Simon's body flayed and hung in the chicken coop, or knowing that they're eating people meat at the dinner table doesn't serve to "shock", just maintain our sense of despair and horror as we watch this madness unfold.
I fucking loved it, and I can't wait to see it again. There are so many little details. The flowers "breathe" when they're on drugs. The illustrations and drawings everywhere hint at what's about to go down. There is a giant monstrous face in the forest as they walk by. I'm sure there are tons of things I missed on my first viewing.
Comments
Going to see it this week some time, loved Hereditary, cant wait.
That pink lemonade tho 🤣
Did they ever reveal they ate people?
loved it.
Loved it! Also missed that they ate people, but was guessing at it. The awkwardness at the beginning and strain between Dani and Christian throughout the film made me squirm more than the outright violent scenes. While weirded out at first, I was completely on board w the community by the end.
Not explicitly... It just felt that way for a couple of reasons:
Just a theory.
I haven't seen Hereditary and had pretty much no idea what to expect going into Midsommar. Hadn't even seen the trailer, just heard it's a good horror movie which is a lie. It is a GREAT horror movie, probably the best I've seen. However I think horror movie isn't quite accurate. It's more a marathon of extreme discomfort. In any case, I can't think of another movie that made me feel so bad while enjoying it at the same time.
Also, I saw this 3 days ago now and have tried twice to post my thoughts but couldn't find the words, still haven't completely. I'm sure I could say a lot more about how well it shows conflicts in cultural beliefs, subtleties and foreshadowing, and is really just a movie about a failed relationship with a lot of other crazy stuff fueling the end of it. There is so much going on for such a slow paced movie and so much of it not obvious I almost feel like I need to take notes on a second viewing to really take it all in and that's not a bad thing.
I also really enjoyed Midsommar, for all the reasons people have stated above. Tension was perfect, the weirdness was introduced just so rightly timed that you accepted it, plus some great moments of levity in the insanity (the grandma pushing Christian's butt 😂😂😂). There were great audience reactions to the failing relationship and how it developed.
I definitely want to watch it again.
@Canti you have got to see Hereditary. It's a masterpiece
It was a horror movie, but not? So goddamn weird and uncomfortable and amazing. I went into seeing this knowing that it was getting pretty good movie goer reviews, so I was expecting a good film; I was not expecting what I got though. Holy shit!
Went with two coworkers one night after work (there is a movie theater at the other end of the property) and the theater was PACKED for a 10:30 showing on a Tuesday night. That right there says a lot about word of mouth getting around about this movie. My coworker (and girlfriend) Maddie, she loved the film but my other coworker, Bo (who is from Benin), thought it was terrible with too much weirdness and focus on drugs. That seems to be a split I am noticing; 2 of 3 people LOVED Midsommar, but the 3rd absolutely hated it. Even horror fans seem split on it. I am NOT a fan of horror movies at all and I loved this movie. Maybe thats because I don't really see it as horror, though it is, I see if more as suspense with elements of horror and supreme weirdness.
Well, thats my two cents on probably the best movie of the summer.