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Midsommar - a movie about a pleasant vacation (from the writer/director of Hereditary)

TheLeon

By TheLeon
in The Performing Arts Centre

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fuckle85

fuckle85

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Posted

Hereditary had me shook as I was leaving the theater like no other film has since maybe The Shining when I was a kid.   Genuinely impressive/impactful horror movie.  I'll see anything the director makes, so looking forward to subjecting myself to this one when it's out.

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Bloodporne

Bloodporne

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This trailer doesn't do it for me whatsoever. The art direction is really off-putting and it essentially looks like another The Wicker Man retread, which there are already essentially several of. 

 

Based on the trailer, it looks really corny but who knows, maybe it'll break out some truly interesting new things. Will no doubt check reviews when it's out. 

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johnny

johnny

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4 hours ago, Greatoneshere said:

 

Haha, not sure what is meant by this. 

I misread this and was thinking of Merc’s post that Hereditary was second best behind Mandy. I liked Mandy more than Halloween but it’s definitely not better than Hereditary

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EternallDarkness

EternallDarkness

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3 hours ago, johnny said:

I loved this movie. I think the first hour most will really enjoy. Second hour people will love it or hate it. 

 

I lean more toward the hate it side, though that's rather strong, more that I am indifferent to it. I'm definitely becoming a fan of Florence Pugh, and the early part of the full drew me in,  it definitely had a few twisted parts, but overall it felt like a slow burn to ….nothing. The guy seated near me looked over when the movie was over and asked me what the hell did we just watch? 

 

Spoiler

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Aster was probably as stoned as the characters in the movie when he wrote the script. 

 

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Moa

Moa

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I thought it was the definition of an okay movie. In Hereditary it felt like every single strand connected into both the characters, the content of the plot, and the building horror, but in Midsommer it largely felt like the plot threads were left in the wind while events progressed more or less without input from the characters.

 

Spoiler

I also am borderline offended by how horrifying the intro was only to be largely sidelined by the rest of the movie. I know the phrase trauma porn gets thrown around a lot in criticism of horror movies, and I personally am generally dismissive of the complaint, but damn you can't just have such a visceral and real portrayal of a murder suicide, survivor's guilt, and mourning to just do nothing with it for the rest of the movie. I know people will disagree with me and say it was all about that scene and how Dani reacted to it and how it impacted her relationship with Christian etc, but I felt like the intro was treated more like a small cog at the beginning of a machine than the bleeding heart of the movie, as something like that should be if you're going to put people through watching it.  Basically, the last ninety minutes did not do the first ten justice.

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On 3/6/2019 at 5:06 AM, Moa said:

this movie screams "done a million times before." 

 

Spoiler

 

Called it

 

 

 

 

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TwinIon

TwinIon

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There's an impressive amount of craft in Midsommar, but it all seemed a bit of a waste as it failed to function on an emotional level. As with Hereditary, Ari Aster and cinematographer Pawel Pogorzelski make every single shot feel purposeful. I love how they frame their subjects, hold shots just long enough, and move the camera with such care. In both films, it heightens the drama, insinuating that everything has been considered; it all matters, it's all there for a reason. However, where Hereditary proves that out, I think Midsommar put all that great craft to waste.

 

Besides the opening, my overwhelming sense of Midsommar's horror was "huh." There wasn't a sense of dread or impending doom, even when it was quite obvious. There wasn't a great tension or confusion, just a mild bewilderment and a general dissatisfaction. It's a movie that is demanding of your attention, but did little to pay that off in all but the most obvious ways.

 

 

I think much of this stems from a lack of agency. So much of Midsommar's primary plot points happen while characters are heavily drugged. There's a clear sense of danger, or at least oddity, but they're not in a state to decipher it or to act on it, and as a result there's little tension to be made. The characters are more like flies caught in a web, but so heavily sedated that they just don't really know or care. That lack of recognition and drug induced apathy couldn't help but carry over to my viewing experience.

 

I still think that Aster is a filmmaker to watch, but Midsommar is an unfortunate miss.

 

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johnny

johnny

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I don’t really think you’re supposed to be sitting through the movie dreading what’s going to happen. I think it was a purposeful decision by Ari Aster to portray the events and characters as creeped out but going with the flow regardless. Of course that choice could still not work for you, but that was my interpretation of how it was made. He can clearly build tension and can show a character slowly descending into madness as evidenced by Hereditary. He may have “missed” to some people but what I think he was going for, he nailed. I also think it’s undeniable that he has the technical aspect of filmmaking down to a science judging by his first two movies. 

 

Spoiler

You see more of how people in a horror movie would react with the UK couple and Will Poulter somewhat. Chidi from the good place is there for a reason. Him and the boyfriend are trying to get their doctorates in anthropology so I wouldn’t expect them to not be too thrown off by weird cult like things when they trust Pele. I imagine they’ve studied tons of cultures and traditions.

 

Florence Pugh is the gem of the movie. I loved how Aster threw his protagonist into her greatest fear only for her to find salvation in it and Dani is saved from her broken and deceased family, shitty boyfriend, and apparent lack of good friends. She finally cut the toxic people out of her life. The cult is the most absurd thing about the film and yet it gives us the most heart-warning moment of the movie. It’s a weird feeling for sure, and not something that is going to give most people satisfaction or catharsis but I don’t think Aster is worried about that. 

 

We are really only given one character to feel bad for in the movie (maybe two if we count her bf at the end). What puts Hereditary’s characters over it imo is that we empathize with each member of the family in Hereditary and we understand why each character behaves and feels the way they do. In Midsommar we are more like flies on the wall just watching things happen instead of feeling like we are in the moment like in Hereditary. 

 

 

Hereditary is much more of a horror movie. This has horror elements but almost feels like a graphic fairytale. 

 

@TwinIon

@TheLeon

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TwinIon

TwinIon

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6 hours ago, johnny said:

I don’t really think you’re supposed to be sitting through the movie dreading what’s going to happen. I think it was a purposeful decision by Ari Aster to portray the events and characters as creeped out but going with the flow regardless. Of course that choice could still not work for you, but that was my interpretation of how it was made. He can clearly build tension and can show a character slowly descending into madness as evidenced by Hereditary. He may have “missed” to some people but what I think he was going for, he nailed. I also think it’s undeniable that he has the technical aspect of filmmaking down to a science judging by his first two movies. 

 

  Hide contents

You see more of how people in a horror movie would react with the UK couple and Will Poulter somewhat. Chidi from the good place is there for a reason. Him and the boyfriend are trying to get their doctorates in anthropology so I wouldn’t expect them to not be too thrown off by weird cult like things when they trust Pele. I imagine they’ve studied tons of cultures and traditions.

 

Florence Pugh is the gem of the movie. I loved how Aster threw his protagonist into her greatest fear only for her to find salvation in it and Dani is saved from her broken and deceased family, shitty boyfriend, and apparent lack of good friends. She finally cut the toxic people out of her life. The cult is the most absurd thing about the film and yet it gives us the most heart-warning moment of the movie. It’s a weird feeling for sure, and not something that is going to give most people satisfaction or catharsis but I don’t think Aster is worried about that. 

 

We are really only given one character to feel bad for in the movie (maybe two if we count her bf at the end). What puts Hereditary’s characters over it imo is that we empathize with each member of the family in Hereditary and we understand why each character behaves and feels the way they do. In Midsommar we are more like flies on the wall just watching things happen instead of feeling like we are in the moment like in Hereditary. 

 

 

Hereditary is much more of a horror movie. This has horror elements but almost feels like a graphic fairytale. 

 

@TwinIon

@TheLeon

 

 

Often horror movies get criticized for what characters "should" do, and I agree with you in that Midsommar doesn't have those issues. Either logically or emotionally, we understand why these characters make the decisions they do. Also, I generally agree that it's not really meant to be a straight horror film, still, I think it's clear from the tone of the film that it's made to impart some kind of emotional response, and I just never really felt that outside of the opening.

 

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