I’m a big fan of thriller and creepy movies, so when I saw the trailer for Midsommar I instantly wanted to go see it.
Most movies that have a secret cult in them are good for many reasons, and in my opinion Midsommar fit the bill perfectly.
I really enjoyed every minute of it, even though it was sort of predictable and i knew what certain things were that the main characters didn’t.
Ari Aster’s work, in my opinion, is not quite like any other director. I’m not a big movie nerd, but he has a way of throwing in those unknown gods and deities into his movies (Hereditary) that you don’t really see coming and it’s one of my favourite movie tropes.
My biggest issue with the movie, and with other Aster work is that the shots and the gore are absolutely beautiful, but the characters are sort of flat and don’t seem to have too much development.
I found Midsommar utterly transfixing, darkly comic, ravishing, and appropriately terrifying; despite a two-hour-and-20-minute running time, I was never inclined to wish that it were shorter, happy to put myself under the same strange Scandinavian spell as the one that seals the major characters to their fate.
Midsommar is a story about how relationships feel during a breakup. The whole movie is focused on the relationship between Dani (who was fantastic in my opinion) and Christian. They have their issues, and Christian is ready to break up with Dani before the worst thing happens, her parents and sister die tragically.
Things evolve and they both end up across the waters in northern Scandinavia, celebrating the summer solstice festival in a small commune. Off the hop you can just tell the commune is off, but the main characters don’t seem to notice anything is wrong. They take drugs, are excluded from a certain strange looking building, and even watch two elders jump off of a cliff, to which they don’t react too harshly.
The citizens of the commune don’t really take much effort to hide what’s going on, and come up with some pretty shitty lies to cover their tracks, or just opt for the straight up approach and tell them it’s tradition…to which the main characters sort of accept over and over.
One part of the movie I liked is that it takes place almost entirely in sunlight. Because it is summer, the sun doesn’t set for long in the northern part of the world, so the creepiness doesn’t get amplified by the darkness…but I don’t think it needs to. It does a hell of a job of being creepy with the constant sunlight.
I enjoyed the ending of the movie though. Dani, evidently wins in the end of their “relationship” and ends up staying with the commune, finally finding a place that she feels like she fits in, since she has been lost since her family died.
Have you seen Midsommar? What were your thoughts? Like it or hate it? Let me know in the comments
