Midsommar
To be as transparent as possible (on the internet that is), this is the second time watching this. Well, actually starting it. The first time trying I got about 15-20 minutes in and shut it off. The character Dani annoyed me to no end. This time, I cleared my head and decided to give Midsommar another chance. I would give this movie a clean slate. And I’m glad I did. I do like this movie, not love it because it does have some issues, but I did like it.
PLOT
A couple travels to Scandinavia to visit a rural hometown's fabled Swedish midsummer festival. What begins as an idyllic retreat quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult.
Photo Credit: A24
Released: July 3, 2019
Director: Ari Aster
Writer: Ari Aster
Runtime: 2hr 28mins
Actors: Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, Vilhelm Blomgren
We start off with Dani worrying about her sister, while her boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor) is off with his friends. We realize that their relationship needs to end but Christian is basically spineless and won’t break up with her. Him and his friends Josh (William Jackson Harper) and Mark (Will Poulter) are planning a trip to Sweden with their Swedish friend Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren).
I won’t go into too much detail about what happens but Dani’s parents and sister are dead. All this culminates into Christian guiltfully inviting Dani along for the trip which doesn't make his friends happy at all. All this while Dani is repressing her grief by not letting anyone see her crying.
At first everything is great with this village, but slowly things start getting creepy. For me, the turning point is the ceremony with the two older people and the cliff. It was brutal, and that should have been the point that these people said I’m out and left but no. We got some real brainiacs here.
One by one the visitors start disappearing from the village. Only Dani seems concerned when the other strangers disappear. Mark, the douchiest of the friends, first decides to pee on the village's sacred tree. WTF? This is one of the many reasons people hate Americans. Then he goes off with a local girl. We don’t see what happens to him until later. LOL Then Josh, who I liked, did something stupid too. His whole reason for being there was to work on his thesis, partly about this village. He gets permission to write about them and talk to them. But he was told no pictures. His dumb ass decides to sneak into their “religious” house and look at their version of a bible. He starts taking pictures. Well, that was not good and he’s done for. There’s another subplot where Christian decides he wants to work on his paper there too and work with Josh. Basically Josh does all the work and he gets partial credit.
Meanwhile, a local girl has her eye on Christian which the elders are okay with. Sigh. While Dani is competing to be May Queen by dancing, Christian is drugged.
I want to interject here. Yes, Christian is an ass and a questionable boyfriend but he was drugged when he had sex with that girl. That is very rapey and questionable. I’ve read so many people bashing him for this but he was drugged.
I won’t give the ending away but it is interesting to say the least.
Let’s get into the rankings:
Kills/Blood/Gore: 5/5
There were about 13 or 14 deaths in the movie. Most were off screen though. Minimal blood, primarily during the cliff scene which had the most and was so violent. There was also blood when Josh was killed. The gore. For me, there were about 2 and ½ scenes that were the goriest. The ½ goes to what Dani’s sister looks like when found. The other two was the cliff scene and when we see what happened to one of the other strangers. His death reminded me of a Viking’s Blood Eagle.
Sex/Nudity: 4/5
Yes, there is a sex scene but it didn’t feel sexy. This guy is drugged and having sex (with no foreplay) with this girl, while surrounded by naked older women singing. Not a very good way to set the mood. Like I said earlier, Christian was drugged so this feels a little rapey so it’s hard to say he willingly cheated. Nudity, there was quite a bit during the sex scene. There were a good 8 to 10 or more women in there with full frontal and butts showing. We also see Christian in all his glory (his penis and butt).
Scare factor: 3/5
There were not any jump scares or anything really scary. There was a creeping sense of dread throughout the movie. The first scene with Dani’s sister and parents was horrifying. Also, the fact that it was daylight all the time is strange.
Enjoyment factor: 3/5
Positives- The cinematography and music is amazing. I think the acting was good. I think Florence Pugh did an amazing acting job. The practical effects for the kills are very impressive.
Negatives- I get this is a slow burn movie. I’m okay with slow burns. But this is 2 and ½ hours, which is way too long. There were quite a few scenes that could have been cut down and wouldn’t have affected the quality of the movie. The pacing is just off. My other is probably just a nitpick but Midsommar gives off Wickerman vibes. Big time. I don’t know if it’s intentional or not.
My Rank: 3.75/5
IMDB: 7.1/10
Rotten Tomatoes: critics: 10/10 audience: 7.4/10
Letterboxd: 3.8/5
