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.

Be first thing I wanted to do after leaving the cinema, was to discover what the swedish thought of this film, in general they saw it with humour, and an open mind, as I expected.

It's pretty much split right down the middle, first half, dare I say it, normality, drama, with a heavy focus on grief, and the harsh way it can affect someone, particularly if there's trauma involved. The second half is very trippy, and we delve into the world of pagan ritual and bizarre rights, which makes The Whicker Man look like a tea party.

The main leads, Florence Pugh and Jack Reynor, were terrific. Pugh had impressed previously in The Little Drummer Girl, it was obvious she was destined for big things, she played Dani with a real sense of torment, very impressive. The cast had a realism, it was refreshing not to watch a cast that look set for a Dior catwalk.

It won't be for everyone, and I must point out that some scenes are painfully long, needlessly. Some amazing special effects.

Violence and nudity, but neither are gratuitous or simply for shock. A few laughs, several times the cinema erupted in laughter.

Very good. 8/10

Gorgeous visuals, creative cinematography and solid performances but the movie feels long winded and disconnected. The characters are underdeveloped and the plot is a little all over the place. The movie does however manage to be intentionally funny at times but not scary or very disturbing.

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.

Looking at the end credits right now and the only frase that comes to mind, is "what the actual crap?!" This is easily one of the most disturbing movies I've seen. Yet it is impossible to look away, and almost kind of soothing in a way.