Movies: Midsommar (Ari Aster)

Trap Jesus

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Feb 13, 2012
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Director is the #1 influence to get me to go see a movie, so I'm really looking forward to this as Hereditary was my #2 movie of last year and one of the best horror movies in a while. Didn't grab me as much as Hereditary's trailer though.

Would be pumped if Robert Eggers' The Lighthouse comes out this year as well. First time directors who produced IMO the 2 best horror movies of this decade following up with their 2nd movie in the same year.
 

Trap Jesus

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Aster and the two leads did a 30 min interview for Rotten Tomatoes that is up on YouTube. I'm hesitant to check it out though considering non-spoiler discussions can still have spoilers in some way.
 

Osprey

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The plot reminds me a little of The Wicker Man. I liked Hereditary, and Ari Aster is both writing and directing this, as well, so maybe it'll be good.

Would be pumped if Robert Eggers' The Lighthouse comes out this year as well. First time directors who produced IMO the 2 best horror movies of this decade following up with their 2nd movie in the same year.

It could arguably be three if you count Jordan Peele (i.e. if you count Get Out as a horror film). Hopefully, this isn't a mild disappointment like Us was, though. It's hard to live up to the debut that put you on the map, especially in the horror genre. Just look at M. Night Shyamalan.
 

Pranzo Oltranzista

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Director is the #1 influence to get me to go see a movie, so I'm really looking forward to this as Hereditary was my #2 movie of last year and one of the best horror movies in a while. Didn't grab me as much as Hereditary's trailer though.

Would be pumped if Robert Eggers' The Lighthouse comes out this year as well. First time directors who produced IMO the 2 best horror movies of this decade following up with their 2nd movie in the same year.

Edit: Posted before I wrote anything sorry about that...

I guess that by decade, you mean 2010 and after and not the last 10 years, because 2009 had Antichrist and Amer that fell somewhat in the horror movies slot and that were quite a lot better than anything since.

As for this decade, I'd still put The Babadook, Berberian Sound Studio and The Strange Color of your Body's Tears a little ahead of Hereditary, and ways ahead of The VVitch.
 

ManwithNoIdentity

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10/10

This is going to be one of the most divisive films in horror and maybe in general in awhile but I loved it and it’s one of the best horror films I’ve seen in a long time

Cinematography, atmosphere, use of foreshadowing, soundtrack all positives

Seems like many went into expecting it to be Hereditary all over again and it just isn’t
 

Trap Jesus

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Feb 13, 2012
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Edit: Posted before I wrote anything sorry about that...

I guess that by decade, you mean 2010 and after and not the last 10 years, because 2009 had Antichrist and Amer that fell somewhat in the horror movies slot and that were quite a lot better than anything since.

As for this decade, I'd still put The Babadook, Berberian Sound Studio and The Strange Color of your Body's Tears a little ahead of Hereditary, and ways ahead of The VVitch.
Yeah, talking about the 2010s. The Witch and Hereditary were my 2 favorite horror films from this decade.
 
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Trap Jesus

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This was quite a bit to digest, but ultimately, I really liked it. I completely understand the divisiveness to this movie because, if you don't go along with it, a lot of it can be taken as silly/absurd, more so than Hereditary where it was really just the last ~10 mins or so. This movie was more of a gradual ascent into absurdity, whereas Hereditary more or less flipped a switch at the end. And to the comment about whether it's similar to Hereditary, I think there are a TON of similarities, even if they're different movies.

I think the main thing that has stood out to me from Aster's two movies is his use of practical effects. He has a clear infatuation with things that look weird, imperfect, and unsettling, almost like they're meant to be seen with a certain level of artifice.

I also really like the fact that this movie
never dealt with anything supernatural. Ever since I saw the trailer and saw shots like the person's feet lifting off the ground (was that even in this movie?), I thought FOR SURE it was going to take a supernatural turn like Hereditary did, but I was pleasantly surprised to see it didn't. I still thought it was going to do that when they had that Maya girl put the figurine under Christian's bed, and it was revealed to be a "love spell" or something, but they never did anything with that and it was just a red herring.

Not that there's anything wrong with going supernatural, but I really liked that it took this more grounded approach to the absurdity of everything else going on. Outside of hallucinogens altering reality, they kept everything else grounded.

After hearing how much of a role the OST played in Hereditary, I think I may have been slightly disappointed in the OST for Midsommar. It was good, but it didn't play nearly as active as a role. They did do some cool stuff with group vocals, but nothing grabbed me like it did in Hereditary.
 
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Frankie Blueberries

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I saw it last night - really enjoyed it but thought there could have been more explanation or closure for some of the characters.

I also noticed a lot of similarities with Hereditary:
The broken home/family issues. The uncomfortable grieving scenes. And the breaking down/erosion of the characters.
 

Trap Jesus

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Feb 13, 2012
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I saw it last night - really enjoyed it but thought there could have been more explanation or closure for some of the characters.

I also noticed a lot of similarities with Hereditary:
The broken home/family issues. The uncomfortable grieving scenes. And the breaking down/erosion of the characters.
On a visceral level it's tough to ignore the similarities with the final scenes as well. Ritual/sacrifice in a triangular shaped structure with ornate human sacrifices.

midsommar4.jpg


Final-Diorama.png

Edit: regarding more closure on characters:

Yeah, I can see that, although I think it worked comedically with the 2 characters that weren't part of the main group. It was one of those situations where it was so obvious that everyone was lying and covering it up that it became funny. I think you have to suspend your disbelief with things like Will Poulter's character wandering off when people are just going missing, but I do think it's effective when you see what happened to the characters during the sacrifice (or just before in regards to the guy that is strewn up with his lungs still sucking in air). It's one of those situations that they alter the look of the people by doing things like bloating their faces and sticking them full of hay and branches that you second guess who it actually is for a second, which I thought was kind of cool. As I mentioned before, Aster definitely has a thing for combining corpses with weird ornate decorations:

tumblr_pduifgzbZB1w0r4dyo4_r1_500.png
 
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Trap Jesus

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Feb 13, 2012
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It could arguably be three if you count Jordan Peele (i.e. if you count Get Out as a horror film). Hopefully, this isn't a mild disappointment like Us was, though. It's hard to live up to the debut that put you on the map, especially in the horror genre. Just look at M. Night Shyamalan.
I absolutely hated Us. I liked Get Out quite a bit but wouldn't put it on a level with the best horror movies of recent years. At the end of the day though, I can respect that Peele is taking chances with his movies. Us was a huge swing for the fences but it didn't connect with me at all.

I don't know why people have such a tough time classifying recent horror movies that aren't just typical jump scare fests as horror movies. I think not being able to classify Midsommar as a horror (which a ton of people are arguing over) is absurd IMO.
 

ManwithNoIdentity

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Jun 4, 2016
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This was quite a bit to digest, but ultimately, I really liked it. I completely understand the divisiveness to this movie because, if you don't go along with it, a lot of it can be taken as silly/absurd, more so than Hereditary where it was really just the last ~10 mins or so. This movie was more of a gradual ascent into absurdity, whereas Hereditary more or less flipped a switch at the end. And to the comment about whether it's similar to Hereditary, I think there are a TON of similarities, even if they're different movies.

I think the main thing that has stood out to me from Aster's two movies is his use of practical effects. He has a clear infatuation with things that look weird, imperfect, and unsettling, almost like they're meant to be seen with a certain level of artifice.

I also really like the fact that this movie
never dealt with anything supernatural. Ever since I saw the trailer and saw shots like the person's feet lifting off the ground (was that even in this movie?), I thought FOR SURE it was going to take a supernatural turn like Hereditary did, but I was pleasantly surprised to see it didn't. I still thought it was going to do that when they had that Maya girl put the figurine under Christian's bed, and it was revealed to be a "love spell" or something, but they never did anything with that and it was just a red herring.

Not that there's anything wrong with going supernatural, but I really liked that it took this more grounded approach to the absurdity of everything else going on. Outside of hallucinogens altering reality, they kept everything else grounded.

After hearing how much of a role the OST played in Hereditary, I think I may have been slightly disappointed in the OST for Midsommar. It was good, but it didn't play nearly as active as a role. They did do some cool stuff with group vocals, but nothing grabbed me like it did in Hereditary.


That scene with the floating feet was cut from the final product , apparently.

It was basically just additional footage of
Christian being drugged and coerced into having sex with Maja, it was supposed to be a shot of him floating despite it being a hallucination

Also

I absolutely hated Us. I liked Get Out quite a bit but wouldn't put it on a level with the best horror movies of recent years. At the end of the day though, I can respect that Peele is taking chances with his movies. Us was a huge swing for the fences but it didn't connect with me at all.

I don't know why people have such a tough time classifying recent horror movies that aren't just typical jump scare fests as horror movies. I think not being able to classify Midsommar as a horror (which a ton of people are arguing over) is absurd IMO.

I’ve seen the term “folk horror” being thrown around with Midsommar and it fits, Horror is a more expansive genre than some think it is
 
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Trap Jesus

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Another similarity to Hereditary by matching the score to the perspective of the cult rather than the protagonist's (or at least Christian's perspective in Midsommar) at the movie's climax. Reborn is one of my all-time favorite songs in a movie, but I think Fire Temple was also fantastic and matched that moment perfectly, and was the easy standout from Midsommar's score.

 

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Gorgeously shot from start to finish, fantastic suspense buildup in the first third of the film, great concept, and IMO the most accurate and brutally honest take on what shrooms are like. It was a good movie for sure and was excellently disturbing.

But...

-it never really climaxed, would’ve been better off had everything really gone to shit after their second morning there (right after the elder cliff scene). Lack of suspense payoff and the long runtime made it drag a little.

-because it never climaxes, the disturbing stuff gets silly and funny in a bad way very quickly after the rituals start

-the whole “where’d our friends go???” “I don’t know it’s probably fine” theme was ridiculous. The theater even started laughing at it

Ultimately it wasn’t a horror movie, it was just a disturbing movie, and I think it could’ve been better if it was a little scarier and more concise
 

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