Review: Midsommar (2019).

Midsommar (2019). Directed and Written by Ari Aster.

[Florence Pugh, Will Poulter, Jack Reynor.]

A slow-burn psychological thriller; torturously, grievously and horrifically engaging.

For two and a half hours we follow Dani through the traumatic and gut-wrenching events she undergoes in an attempt to somehow allow herself to grieve, mourn- escape.

After ending up at a Swedish friend's ancestral community during the yearly celebration of Midsummer, Dani and her boyfriends group of friends are easily distracted by the serenity of the Swedish countryside.

Some traditions carried forward during this celebration include taking shrooms (several times lol) , participating in a dance around a maypole, crowning a May Queen, and some really fucked up gruesome shit that only gets worse (naturally).

The horror-aspect of this film is most evident through the pacing, the stark white and bright grading & lighting, the eerie score- not to mention the extreme emphasis on the realism of this film.

Naturally there is exaggeration on the severity of paganism and cult-like communities- something the film has been criticized for and questioned about. I obviously disagree, this is cinema for goodness sake, not non-fiction!!

Florence Pugh made me FEEL things. I have never seen somebody express such guttural, raw emotion. I fucking felt it man. Her performance was more than outstanding; guiding us with such conviction we are actually seduced into siding with her, understanding and actually validating her experiences throughout. By the final scene we are more than satisfied with the decisions that landed us all at this stark conclusion.

It's a horror, not some weird way of shifting blame or glamorizing cults- in fact, after finishing the film there is more reason to avoid joining one than not. It also does a brilliant job of exposing just how easy it is to be coerced into this type of situation- how convincing yet also susceptible we are as humans.

I admire this film for its bold risks- going against the grain in a way that ensures this story remains memorable. Midsommar is another example of the new-wave shift of the horror genre; branching out into stories that scar us in a personal and emotional way.

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