The Midsommar madness of Ari Aster

About a year after creeping me right the fuck out with Hereditary, Ari Aster went in another similar direction with this bizarre trip to a Swedish cult festival in "Midsommar". The artistic direction is pretty wonderful, much in the same vein as the last movie, and the weirdness is way up there. Both movies share a lot of similar themes, and it only gets more obvious toward the end of the movie.

The movie is quite long at almost 2.5 hours, but throughout the film, you'll get a few shocking moments. In typical Aster fashion, the film has some fucked up imagery, and an unsettling vibe throughout. We start the movie with a traumatic experience, and while the comedy lingers about in the first half, the horror drowns it out in a strangely fascinating and uncomfortable viewing experience.

Our characters are pretty decent, with our lead actress putting on a range of sad emotions throughout. She's drawn into this festival after her uncommitted leech of a boyfriend ((not) played by Chris Pratt) is set to travel with his friends there to write a thesis on their rituals. What could go wrong?

This one is another slow-burner that culminates to a Wicker-Man/Hereditary event where all these friendly commune types prove to have a more sinister Children of the Corn style of living.

One thing I really liked about the movie was its use of hallucinogenic drugs. They take a few of them throughout, and the trippy look of things is quite awesome. You see the trees moving and breathing, the grass swaying and blending in, and the world has waves to it. Perhaps the best drug trippery I've ever seen in a movie.


Overall, it was a pretty good movie. My initial viewing still places Hereditary on a higher pedestal, but fans of that movie should have no trouble in getting into this deranged picture. Again, this movie almost seems to retread some of the same ideas as the last movie, with cultists, weird mythologies, reincarnation, and directorial quirks. I'm always happy to see classy horror like this make it into cinemas.