"Midsommar" - new folk horror film from "Hereditary" director Ari Aster*

Believe it or not, I came out of our local indie theater saying, "I haven't been that glad to get out of a movie since we saw Bjork spend 2-&-1/2 hours in a ship cargo doing a tea ceremony while she turned into a whale..." - and one of the staff said, "hey, we're screening that one next week!". Turns out he was wrong, it's actually The Juniper Tree they've got booked, but, that's weird enough - and at least he recognized the movie I was referencing.

 

Ending aside, I loved Hereditary—but I’m staying far, far away from this one.

 

At least the DR9 soundtrack was decent. This movie was absolutely awful. My wife, who asked me to go with her, told me to stop being so noticeably annoyed.

 

Good god, it was already about an hour too long!

 

Just went to the Director's Cut and really loved it. I never saw the theatrical release so I jumped on the chance to see it on the big screen and I wasn't disappointed. The longer version plays out more of the relationship dilemma and also the thesis issues among the grad students. The set design and cinematography is sublime while the sound design is a disturbing mix of soundtrack, folk songs and lots of wailing. Set in the long summer days of Sweden (but actually shot in Hungary) the viewer in the dark theatre is thrust into this messed up world. This is why I go to movies, to be challenged and provoked; to be immersed in a dream state where I have no idea what will happen. I actually thought it could've been longer (his original cut was almost 4 hours long). Not too many films or filmmakers can successfully achieve this but Aster has with this and Heriditary. It's still playing this week here so if it's near you, take a chance.

Spoiler: Some spoiler thoughts

One of the things that bugged me was all these people would have families and friends who knew they were going to Sweden for a month. I'm pretty sure if all of them disappeared they would be eventually tracked by the authorities and the cult would be discovered. It works with Dani because she has no family (but she does get a text from a friend)

 

Finally saw it and thought it was amazing. Not surprised in the least that it gets no play here.

 

What do you mean by "no play here". Do you mean the states overall or in Mattapan which I'm assuming is in Boston, Massachusetts?

 

I had reservations about Hereditary a great film but too obvious if you've seen Rosemary's Baby.

OK this is Wicker Man, which sounds like another hurdle to get over but the oppressive paranoid tension just keeps ramping up, for me a better film than Hereditary, emotionally exhausting.

 

I just watched the "Director's Cut". I didn't like it as much as Hereditary but I still thought it was pretty good. An immersive experience in a really strange world with a pretty seriously messed up group of people (including the visitors). At almost 3 hours, it didn't feel padded or overly long to me.

 

I just saw this.

#1. White people are crazy.

#2. I think that everyone was tripping on serious psychedelics/psychotropics the whole time, from the moment they ate those shrooms. Everybody in the commune. I can't believe nobody has mentioned this obvious fact, with things moving around on the screen. If the wackos thought you needed to be a little higher, they'd just give you more of that drank. They went up, but they never came back down.

#3. The boyfriend, Christian, was such a child. Frankly - speaking of children - he looked like the lovechild of Seth Rogen and Chris Pratt.

#4. I can't wait for the sequel when the FBI raids the joint. We'll see how clever these Swedes are with their hammers when the tanks start rolling in.

#5. Did they ever find their missing book? I kept wondering about the book.

 

The book was never missing. That was all just theater to help cover up the disappearance of Josh and Mark. They made the implication one of them had taken the book to put Christian and Dani on the defensive, rather than having them accuse the village of somehow causing the disappearance of their two friends.

 

I rented this from Redbox and watched it this morning. While the shocks are less the second time through, I think I enjoyed the movie even more. One thing I noticed was that Inge has fresh scratches on her face (nose and forehead) when we see her towards the end, right before Dani makes her choice for the final sacrifice. Maybe this suggests there was some struggle with Mark (Will Poulter's character, the tree-pisser) when she took him off to be killed? I wonder if she took him off only to have him killed, or did she have sex with him to get a new baby into their bloodline as well.

Question about the identity of the final sacrifices. There are 4 outisders, 4 from the village, and then Christian is chosen by Dani to be the ninth. We know who the 4 original outsiders are (Josh, Mark, and the couple from London Connie and Simon). For the 4 from the village, there are the two still living volunteers, and then two already dead who have been stuffed and are placed in the barn. I think I originally thought these were the two old people who jumped to their death, but their heads were smashed to pulp by the impact and then by the big hammer. It doesn't seem likely the village would have been able to restore their faces. And I think we see their bodies going to be incinerated and then their ashes put in the old dead tree. But the two stuffed bodies brought into the barn had faces. So who were they? Were they villagers who died earlier in the year on natural causes, and were simply stuffed and kept in reserve for the festival?

 

Ah, yes, Seth, I couldn't place that one. Also a bit of Prince Harry in places.

I'm pretty sure they were effigies of the cliff jumpers.

 

Watched this last night and I'm on the fence about it.
There's a very good horror movie lurking within this film just dying to get out but can't quite make it.
More attention and scenes should have been shown to depict just how pagan and barbaric this group is/was.
I knew two things once the weirdness started though. One : all those guys were doomed and we're going to die horrible deaths. Two : the female lead was going to somehow rise above all.

 

I agree. It wasn’t scary but certainly creepy.

 

I was surprised to pick up the "Hereditary" Blu-ray at Walmart in the $5 bin. What a steal! It truly pays to have a wide range of tastes.

 

Do you need to watch Hereditary first?

 

No not at all.

 

He was great in “Sing Street”, the musical comedy set in 1980s Ireland from a couple of years ago, as the protagonists’ man-caved elder brother. So different-looking there than I was wondering for the entire duration of “Midsommar” where I had seen that actor before. Great movies both.

I liked this one better than “Hereditary”.

 

Cool. I’m going to rent Midsommar. My friend just told me he saw it and had really vivid, disturbing dreams that night!

 

Now streaming in 4k on Amazon Prime btw. I really enjoyed it in the theater. (My wife, a good sport, not so much)

 

Totally agree

 

Just finished!

OMFG!

 

It was definitely a grower. I picked up more the second time. I will say that the endings of HEREDITARY and MIDSOMMAR take a bit from Polanski’s ROSEMARY’S BABY.

 

Loved how, at the end, the flowers on her head, and everything on the table looked like it was breathing!