Midsommar Movie Review

The following is a movie review “Midsommar” by Marc Primo.

Release date: July 3, 2019 (United States)

Directors: Ari Aster

Language: English

Production Companies: Square Peg, B-Reel Films

Producer: Lars Knudsen, Patrik Andersson

Today’s discerning fans of the horror movie genre have probably grown tired of jump scares and crave subtle chills creeping up their spine instead. In Ari Aster’s Midsommar, viewers get something new delivered from the old mold of horror films that rely on strange cults, creeping fear, and crude yet effective cinematography.

We have already tasted Aster’s formula in the form of the disturbing demonic family tale Hereditary last year. But while that was more focused on the patriarchy of an evil lineage, his new film takes us to the sinister villages of Sweden for a frightening immersion in a bizarre festival.

In the beginning of the film, psychology student Dani (Florence Pugh) receives a disturbing message from her sister which eventually leads to her family’s suicide. Viewers then assume the POV of the grieving Dani and her relationship-exhausted boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor) as they go on a trip to a Swedish commune with his anthropology grad school buddies upon the invitation of another classmate Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren).

The film anchors its dramatic elements on Dani and Christian’s relationship without really showing much of it. Instead, Aster presents the couple’s decaying bond and leaves audiences to conjure the characters’ backgrounds with familiar stereotypes, (e.g. Dani might be suffering from mental illness because of her being orphaned and inferior, and relies on her relationship with Christian making her more vulnerable).

Fans who are into B-movie slasher flicks will easily spot the blundering Mark (Will Pouter) and the driven Josh (William Jackson Harper) as victims of fate as the film’s ominous twists unfold. However, the film succeeds in instigating fear that slowly builds up and makes a horror movie effective despite having a noticeable lack of insight and character development.

It won’t take much to figure out how the group of tourists ends up living with a cult early into the film. The commune’s residents sporting white garb and floral head dresses are fascinated by strange arts and crafts, and their fondness of organic drugs give that away. The main reveal here is how deadly the cult truly is and how it begs to fit into any anthropological context.

Suicides and ancient rituals are the norm for our typical movie cults, yet Midsommar delves a little deeper in its theoretical premise. Aster does a good job in planting a mind-boggling turn of events that happen within the village to confuse viewers (who share the visitors’ POV throughout the entire film), on how to establish logic from what they are witnessing. Elderly couples being sacrificed and authorized murders are showcased to convince viewers that this is not an average cult film.

What the film asks us is ‘where does the greater good lie’. Should self-gratification that most of us enjoy today matter than communal benefit? By reminding us how purist cultures give importance to shared beliefs and community regardless of the absence of conventional morals, Midsommar makes you think about today’s society and if placing higher regard for the majority rather than our individual selves truly has merit.

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