Midsommar

I watched this at home on BluRay from my public library, not my wife's type of movie.

This was made by the same writer/director that brought us "Hereditary" a year earlier, I like this one much more. It is confusing much of the time but when it is all over you realize it is a fable of sorts for the lead character, Dani, to come to some resolution from the loss of her family and coming to terms with her dud of a boyfriend.

Look up the entire lyrics of 'Hotel California' by The Eagles, with this movie in mind you can find many parallels.

I already was a Florence Pugh fan from her roles in Lady MacBeth (2016) and Fighting With My Family (2019). Here she is Dani who tragically loses her sister and parents, in grief accompanies her boyfriend and three other guys to Sweden in late June to witness, and ultimately participate in, a ritualistic Pagan festival. But it also goes deeper, to the core of the group's beliefs. By the end Dani achieves resolution, the other four are not so fortunate.

This is a really strange movie once they get to Sweden, there is very explicit and gory violence, there is a big non-erotic sex scene with a number of nude characters. Everything is designed to shock the senses of the viewer. I would not like to see movies like this on a regular basis but as a one-off experience I found it a totally worthwhile 2 1/2 hours.

I'm not sure how but the movie had me on edge the entire time. You have to enjoy cinematography to really enjoy this. I left the movie like I just came down from a high. The whole thing felt like a bad trip afterwards, I was pleased and not at the same time but I think that's how we're meant to feel. It's a good change from super hero movies and terribly made horror movies.

It is worth saying upfront that MidSommar should be a very divisive movie. If you tend to watch mostly popular movies or standard horror films, Midsommar is not for you. Which explains the amount of 1 out of 10 reviews here on IMDb, despite an overall 7.1 rating.

But if you don't mind a slow building narrative with tension, innovative cinematography and plenty of look-away gore, then you might be able to appreciate just how unique Midsommar really is.

Briefly - MidSommar shows us a group of friends going on what seems like an idyllic trip to the Midsummer festival in a village in Northern Sweden. But that quickly turns into a harrowing display of Pagan rituals and ceremonies.

The movie is long because it's not afraid to take its time explaining the background of the characters (the group of friends and particularly the young woman in which it focuses). So from the start you can feel that this will be a different experience from most horror films.

But the movie really takes off once they arrive in Sweden. And it goes a long way to explain why Ari Aster is being so buzzed as a new director. Some of the shots shown are, at least in my book, completely outside the norm. And early on help you involve in the world of the film, and in the experience of the main characters.

In the terms of cinematography, it is one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen. And that becomes an even more impressive achievement because of its contrast with the horrid gore images displayed throughout the movie.

The grass's green, the floral arrangements, the group dances, everything really paints a picturesque image of the Midsommar festivities. Despite all the unexpected events the characters are witnessing, that sense is kept all throughout 2h30 of film.

All of the imagery helped me, as a viewer, to truly feel in the perspective of the characters. Walking into the festival, hopeful, experience the shock of everything that happens in front of them.

I felt I too went on that trip with the characters, and I was shocked again and again together with them. It stuck with me for hours on end after watching. Which is one the best complements I can make to the work of a director in my view.

Truly recommended it if you are up to watching a different yet aesthetically beautiful piece of cinema.

Not sure what this is supposed to be. Its definitely not a horror movie. Its not even that scary, has a few unsettling moments but thats it. Its just weird and doesnt really have any dramatic arc or raising the tension. Basically the whole movie is a few strangers saying WTF? constantly and everyone else telling them " 'ts ok ! guys" Also besides that, its revolves around a traumatized, annoying and totally without self respect girl that slowly starts benefiting from this weird place. Because of course, we cannot have a film these days without it being a "personal journey" of some sorts. Writers trying to be smart and "deep". Yeah nothing beats a bizzare and crazy rituals to make you sane.

If youre expecting horror and monsters or supernatural, keep going. Its just a weird film with no real ending, resolution, interesting character or events. Albeit with nice filmography and quite good actors it has no real dramatic structure or captivating story.

The movie starts out promising and with the interesting backdrop of a Swedish pagan cults. However, it succeeds only in shocking with horrifying imagery of bursting heads/faces and other violence that serves only to hide the fact that this movie is bad at everything else. The character development is extremely bad. We are supposed to care about the main character so the writers came up with a shocking and sad beginning. But we still dont develop much sympathy because the main character (yes I already forgot the name) acts unreasonably and there are no real moments where we get close to her. The plot is extremely foreseeable. Without wanting to spoil much, all characters from the group going to Sweden have happen exactly what you'd expect to happen to them. There is no finesse in story-telling at all and instead cheap attempts at foreshadowing end up as just another horror-movie cliche. The camera work is OK but often too bright and sometimes turns for no reason. It is an attempt of foreshadowing or setting the atmosphere but it is lost on me.

All in all, this movie might be for you if you like to be shocked by violence in a novel setting. Don't watch this with kids or anyone remotely sensitive to violence. Also don't watch it if you care for character development, plot-depth or have good taste in movies, generally.