2019 In Review: Midsommar
BEARS.
BEERS.
BIG OL’ BOOBIES AND BUTTS
- Do you enjoy pagan rituals?
- Spurts of unforgettable gore?
- How about full frontal male nudity?
- Is a three-hour long, slow-burn Swedish-people film with subtitles just the kinda thing that gets your nipples hard?
- Well my friends, have I got the film for you.
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The following is an unapologetic unwinding of a lot of words. As always, to those who embark on this slow, descent into madness, you are the thing that keeps me going.
Viewer discretion advised.
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In 2018 YouTube pervert Ari Aster gave to the world Hereditary, a heartwarming film which traded the traditional horror methods of jump-scares and loud noises for a more tactical approach of dressing up grim morals about grief in an incredibly well shot, very slow-burn, psychologically disturbing pagan-demonic horror movie. It was a tender film adored by cinephiles, yet left many horror fans cold with its lack of Jack-in-the-box frights.
It was not a film for the faint of heart, or patience.
With 2019’s Midsommar, Aster spends an even longer amount time, and takes even bolder leaps with his follow-up picture which is likely to split audiences even moreso than Hereditary. All this to say, Midsommar is not just an intentionally frustrating, and fucked. up. movie (and it is), it is also perhaps the greatest antithesis to the horror genre in recent memory...
But if by chance you WEREN’T bargaining to see a bunch of old, naked people, and having to wait more than two hours for things to get crazy, this ain’t the picture for you.
Like a nightmarish and insanely bizarre fairytale, or as the director dubs “Wizard of Oz for perverts,” Midsommar is a literally drug-induced fever dream of a folk horror movie like none of its kind. Granted the bare bones of the film could be host to a (very) soft reboot of the 1973 Wicker Man, in a sense Midsommar breaks every traditional rule of horror films in ways that have never been done before.
For starters, the film is shot almost entirely in the broad daylight, leaving all of its gruesome and disturbing terror to occur in the great outdoors (even the goddamn sunshine feels evil).
Secondly, the film not only clocks in at two and a half hours long (the director’s cut being THREE hours long), but makes the audience patiently wait through gruesome periods of anticipation before the payoffs.
Finally, the film goes for such deep levels of uncomfortably off-putting mood, that it dares audiences to either cringe in terror or erupt with laughter, simply because there are no other human reactions to some of the bananas-ass shit that goes on in this picture.
And YET, Aster has stated time and again that Midsommar is simply a breakup movie (and a bold choice to explore on a first date).
The controversial director may come off the screen as a deranged cock boy, serving no other purpose than to make his audience squirm, but the brilliance behind the man’s work is in his implantation of the incredible amount of subtle imagery and genuine craftsmanship in order to subject his audiences to much deeper roots sprouting morals about relationships. It just so happens that his morals are dressed up in the clothing of outrageous cults.
Aster gushes a remarkable amount of statements with Midsommar despite the film seemingly amounting to very little beyond a very stretched out folk tale filled with saggy boobs, dongs, grotesque rituals, and an excuse to shock and gross-out filmgoers. At the root of the film Aster is shouting a cautionary tale about trust, betrayal, and consequence in following one’s inhibitions.
Naturally these themes mirror toxic relationships, so Aster’s breakup moral nails its target, but of course the film is also a huge love letter to evil, ancient, pagan religions that partake in sacrificial rituals and even then, the film is reallt a statement on community and acceptance, because it’s 2019 and we should all get along dammit, no matter how gory or sexual things get!
Taking place deep in a far off, remote village of Sweden, the film spends an abhorrent amount of time basking in the culture of the people of Hårga. For a moment, let’s observe their way of life as both the characters and the audience.
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
The villagers view life in cycles like the seasons Spring through Winter, until specifically age 72 when the tribe declares a person can no longer take care of themselves, which of course leads to the mortifying Attestupan ritual.
In a sequence of patience-testing anticipation, we witness the two village Elders partake in a long, strange dinner, read from a holy book, and smear blood on a sacred slab, before leaping from cliffs to their extremely gory deaths, both faces completely bloodily bashed in, further giving leeway to Aster’s obsession of mutilating heads with only two films under the belt.
It’s some lovely imagery that will stay burned into the minds of its audience long after the film is over.
Aster milks his audience over an HOUR into the film before delivering this first true “horror” moment, and when it lands it hits hard, as we tend to react like outsiders Connie and Simon (and naturally freak the fuck out), and YET while this introduction to the ancient pagan rituals is a morose exploitation of tastefully crafted (yet extremely graphic) gore, the people of Hårga ultimately view this as an intimate experience.
In perhaps one of the film’s more unsettling moments, the village people share their cries with the old man who does not die in the fall, wailing along with his agony so they can feel his pain, just before his face is brutally smashed in like a watermelon by a giant hammer. It’s a wonderfully stomach-churching sequence, but as one of the villagers calmly tells the Americans, this is a very natural part of the life cycle, and what the Elders ultimately wanted.
To quote BMD, WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FOLK
Naturally, this is the part of the story where everyone wouldrun away; our characters shook, initially desiring to dip out, and get the fuck outta Hårga (because who wouldn’t?), but with such a disturbing display of horrific rituals excused with normalcy, the most terrifying idea behind the film isn’t that these kinds of foreign cultures exist, but that they can be so easily accepted.
This angle is a frighteningly realistic take on religion, and one that once the hoplelessly naive characters do accept they are also accepting their own eventual demise. Just look at the colorful characters (no matter how unlikable) and the way in which Aster paints their actions representing how they will each meet their grim fates.
Early in the film, the villagers play a game called “Skin the Fool.” Mark (the jackass of the group) is literally skinned for pissing on an ancestral tree. Josh (the obsessive anthropologist), is bludgeoned to death for taking photos of a sacred temple book after he was explicitly forbidden from doing so. Christian (the shitty boyfriend) of course gets it the worst as he is selected by his girlfriend to be the ultimate sacrifice after she caught him cheating on her.
Boom, roasted (LITERALLY).
Now, granted these characters were at the hands of a bloodthirsty cult, and not entirely up to their own inhibitions, and as to whether or not they all deserved to brutally die such horrible deaths is kinda up for debate, but Aster makes himself abundantly clear that actions have consequences**
*RELATIONSHIP METAPHORS*
But even down to this just being a film about a breakup and ultimately about acceptance, just look at the parallels between Dani and Christian’s relationship vs. their experience with the village of Hårga.
When Christian is having conflict towards his girlfriend, he either acts like a complete dick or a cowardice pussy (of all the things, that fucking birthday cake is the hardest thing to watch). Sure, the most relatable piece of his character is that he doesn’t know how to pull out of a years-long relationship, but his berating and passive aggressiveness alienates the poor girl to the point where she holds back her crying until she can only let out her tears in private.
The people of Hårga however are warm and welcoming towards Dani (albeit they are literally goddamn cult members), eventually crowning her as May Queen.
Needless to say this was probably the plan from the start, the village folk treat Dani like a literal royalty, to the point that when Dani witnesses Christian fornicating with a young girl** she vomits and breaks down crying with the group of women around her in complete supporting.
*JUST TO BE CLEAR, Christian was under the heavy drug-influence a wild fuck-fest, having drank the period blood of the wee lass, and eating her pube pie, so come on give the guy a break*
Just as the villagers supported the Elder man in his dying pain, the women of Hårga wail with Dani’s every breath, and shout with each of her sobs. It’s the pinnacle moment of the film that Dani is finally able to let loose and cry comfortably in front of other people. It is her pivotal character moment of acceptance, and it is one of the most bone chilling and emotionally effective pieces of acting and directing this side of 2019.
Now, no one is justifying that the cult members are in the right for using such twisted methods to win people’s affections (i.e. the pube pie), BUT as the end of the film portrays, Dani having lost her entire family eventually comes full circle, welcoming her new community, ultimately accepting this way of life. She chooses her boyfriend to play the sacrificial bear, transforming a desecrated sob into a delirious smile as crowned May Queen, watching the sacrificial temple collapse in flames as her boyfriend is burned alive** at the hands of Midsommar tradition of every 90 years.
*THE ULTIMATE BREAKUP MOVE*
Mirroring Peter’s transformation in Hereditary, Dani (Florence Pugh in an incredible performance btdubs [LOTS of crying**]) is unaware of this descending into her new life, but this being a breakup movie and all, the film is entirely centered around Dani’s transformation from start to finish, and her character slowly evolves before our eyes.
*SO MUCH CRYING*
The American gang is picked off one by one until we are left with the culmination of the end of a relationship, boiling down to only Dani and her scumbag boyfriend, so appropriately named Christian (Jack Reynor), because if Aster isn’t out to tear down the douchebag in the relationship, he’s out to tear down religion or at least the kooks who take it to life-threatening levels.
Midsommar is a dark, unapologetic descent into madness with no resisting of its wickedness; no conflict against its evil. It’s got metaphors aplenty, but it’s simply a sick and vile film at its core, and for that folks will hate it. Others will devour it.
Like the twisted sister of Hereditary, Midsommar expands Aster’s fascination with dark cults; the film like a curtain slowly peering open to reveal horrific imagery and a disturbing outcome bound to last long after the credits roll. Make no mistake, Aster is delivering pure horror but also at a slow burn rate, basking in comical stretches of anticipation, and doing so in broad daylight, rather than waiting for cheap surprises to pop out of the dark.
Aster knows exactly what he’s doing with the film’s mood too, and by cleverly avoiding the “horror” genre directly, he’s able to focus on moments that are at times so outrageous (notably the giant sex party during the film’s climax - pun intended), that if folks don’t burst into tears, they’ll burst into laughter, because one can only take so many old, naked ladies swaying, chanting, moaning, groping, SINGING, and assist-thrusting (FOR MINUTES AT A TIME), before publicly breaking down with pure human reaction.
Like a Paul Thomas Anderson for an S&M crowd, Aster doesn’t waste a single goddamn frame. His production value is off the charts in every department. His DP *checks notes* Pawel Pogorzelski utilizes every gorgeous shot like a vibrant painting filled with intricate detail, providing some of the flat-out best cinematography of 2019. Each scene builds nightmarish dread supported by a haunting score from the likes of *checks notes* Bobby Krlic. Every frame of this flick is filled with beautiful purpose, no matter how deranged or crude it all may be in the end.
The production value alone is breathtaking AF. Aster builds an entire set design with elaborate costume, housing, music, and puts it all on bright, vibrant display. Even beyond that, the art and animation embedded in the Hårga culture is not only stunning, but connects to multiple historical references, traditions, rituals, spanning across hundreds of years.
Of course all of this doesn’t make up for the dragging runtime, or lack of use for rich and weird characters like the inbred oracle Ruben (who’s obviously the most interesting of the bunch), but taking in such a glorious display of cinematography, you can’t really blame Aster for wanting to savor every frame (his first cut was nearly four fucking hours long, and it’s probably glorious).
Folks, this is a film that’s simply too visually arresting, and vehemently haunting to ignore. It may not be “scary” in the traditional sense, but it burns some of the year’s most unsettling imagery into the viewers’ mind. The film may not be as revealing, surprising, or as tightly knit as Hereditary (out of the 30 minutes of additional footage there’s only one nighttime scene by a lake that truly should have stayed), but for two-and-a-half hours, the pacing breezes by even when not even a single goddamn thing is happening.
Midsommar is further evidence that we are currently witnessing the birth of a new horror movie renaissance unfolding before our very eyes. With folks like Jordan Peele and Ari Aster proving that not only are they not one-trick ponies, but that they’re also some of the most creative voices of the horror industry this generation has ever seen, the roaring 10s of the new millennium may very well end up as the greatest time to be a horror fan in over three decades.
Horror is desperate for experimental films and for the love of Ruben, and all things strange and unsettling, Midsommar is about as experimental as films get.
Gonna need a HOT shower after this one.
+100 points to Aster+50 points to creative horror+10 points to Ruben-10 to all the shitty people out there who can’t man up and be honest in their toxic relationships
