Ari Aster's MIDSOMMAR (2019)

I wonder if when they cast William Jackson Harper, there was any thought as to maybe poking fun at the extreme whiteness of the cult and how clearly they only go for *certain types* of outsiders for "breeding purposes." Seems like a missed opportunity for a few extra lols

For once a reason to share a Bustle link:

https://www.bustle.com/p/the-breathing-in-midsommar-serves-a-much-larger-purpose-than-just-creeping-you-out-18136430

I am so into Krlic's score for this, can't wait to see the actual film

tbh I just want to know how long it takes them to kill the black guy

― brigadier pudding (DJP), Wednesday, July 3, 2019 9:08 AM (four days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Point acknowledged. On the other hand, how about Dani and horror's "last girl" tradition?

At any rate, I would compare it to Get Out--this beautiful and elite community is in a way recruiting you, but it is very much on *their* terms. And I liked the retort to the American stereotype of the Scandinavian countries as free love with blond bombshells (of both genders).

Surprisingly didn't mind or notice the length, kept me hooked til the end, at the same time I'm also just like WHY the fuck would you ever go to a place like this or accept an invitation...

Great follow-up to Hereditary in that it was very much its own thing, didn't feel at all rushed (like Us), and the question of whether or not it's better than Hereditary never occurred to me, they're both very good. no sophomore slump at all.

I can see the black comedy angle. I gotta read more interviews with this guy.

many xps but what was the Wicker Man remake reference? the bear?

Aster is clearly a major director - I hope he does something other than horror next, just to switch it up.

I found Jack Reynor weirdly cute.

he looked like bootleg Chris Pine to me. like a Chris Pine marionette. he has very big eyes

Chris Pine + Seth Rogen

^ great elevator pitch for a remake of The Fly

Aster is clearly a major director - I hope he does something other than horror next, just to switch it up.

― flappy bird, Sunday, July 7, 2019 1:46 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

he doesn't seem to like horror very much so probably

For someone who hates horror he sure loves staging horror setpieces and paying homage to classic horror movies

Yeah, what? Read an interview with him recently where he said he spent his youth renting and watching just about every horror movie he could get his hands on.

hereditary’s only a horror movie bc that’s how he could secure the funding, should i have said “he doesn’t seem to actually want to make horror”? is there a particular reason everyone’s jumping down my throat to defend the eli roth of elevated horror cinema

i’m seeing this thursday btw

sorry y'all, i really hate ari aster but i'm gonna try to like this comedy anyway

"the eli roth of elevated horror cinema" is an excellent grade-A burn

i don't think it's accurate but it's a solid attempt at being caustic

i *am* being mean

hereditary’s only a horror movie bc that’s how he could secure the funding, should i have said “he doesn’t seem to actually want to make horror”

This is I think more accurate and doesn’t I think really matter

i think it's totally fair that other people don't think it matters

Several friends who disdain horror have, guess what, embraced this one because It Transcends Horror.

Midsommer is the Frank Ocean of horror.

ppl say that shit about rosemary’s baby too and it’s also good

hated this so much. peace out!

lol

I’m seeing it again tomorrow, will be interesting to see how it holds up

I made it years with no Hereditary spoilers, but I'm going to try to see this one a lot faster. Alas, first spoiler: it's apparently 2 1/2 hours long! Gonna be tough to find a window.

I know it's only been a day. I need to watch his shorts to confirm my suspicions. But the more time I get away from both of his features, the less I like them and the more this criticism rings true (via Letterboxd):

this guy has built his rep on being solid at the drama stuff (directing actors) and really swinging for the fences with the horror/gore shit but has completely failed to synthesize them in any real way so its all just kinda thrown together into a collection of scenes that actually work, until they dont - i guess the real accomplishment is making drama audiences watch gore & gore audiences watch a drama?? in this & hereditary all the real-life family tragedy shit is wielded like a kid who just discovered racial slurs, excited that hes "hacked" his way into getting a emotional reaction - its unsettling but kinda empty & irresponsible

Honestly feels OTM - when I wished that he would switch it up next time, I was sure he could. Can he though? Midsommar is more consistent than Hereditary but it doesn't top the first half of that movie. Oh my god, the ending of that movie is such a fucking joke! During a lot of Midsommar, I had that stupid "HAIL KING PAIMON!" chant stuck in my head. I know he loves Bergman and shit but could he make something like Cries and Whispers? Midsommar might be as close as he gets.

The strategic use of wild, insane violence/gore feels essential to Hereditary (less so this one, and here it feels almost perfunctory because all of the big kills come at regularly scheduled interviews & they're not a surprise). So I'm not as confident in him as a writer, but he is certainly a talented director - one thing that doesn't get enough credit is the camera in both of these movies, which moves with such authority and inhumanity. But I'd like to see the pre-horror draft of Hereditary.

*intervals

Lol I love the ending of hereditary

What did you think about “HAIL SATAN” in rb?

I still have no idea what "elevated horror" means. horror with elaborate production design?

Probably someone's way of saying "better than that icky quicky genre trash."

Isn’t it just prestige/respectable/middlebrow? Not worth fussing too much about imo

xp yeah

xps

I think it works in RB because that movie is so much more rigorous and disciplined. As it goes on, you're just getting trapped in the Dakota, the walls are closing in, you're SURE that this all has to be in Rosemary's head, the tension just keeps rising until that final reveal and BAM it's actually fucking Satan! the casting of that group is essential too imo, they're genuinely fucking scary- and the line "HAIL SATAN!" is like popping the balloon of a nightmare only to wake up into a worse reality!

the second half of Hereditary is too undisciplined and there's too much space, doesn't feel focused, and the cult is much more obscure and less scary. there isn't that claustrophobic, and completely plausible dread that RB has. of course you could argue that Hereditary might be all in someone's head, but idk to me the crucial difference between the two is that RB never loses its realism while Hereditary just runs itself off the road.

That's a dumb moviegoer distinction. What does it mean on a formal or aesthetic level? Xp

Nothing

xp you make a persuasive argument!

"irresponsible" genre cinema is a very funny idea, to me

"elevated horror" is horror that goes up to HERE

must be this elevated to attend Midsommar

i do plan to go in higher than god

Rosemary's Baby also had a novel as source material and hand rail.

Yeah I heard a lot of ppl say it transcended the source material

Brad I think you will like Midsommar better, or at least I think it has fewer of the qualities you hated in Hereditary

that Letterboxd comment has a lot of otm

I have to say my least favorite take I've seen (elsewhere) so far is "oh so this guy's trick is showing women in visceral grief huh"

this guy is no von trier

Good thing too.

Oh God let's keep the von trier wars out of this thread

Yeah, good idea.

A point I haven't seen brought up as much, perhaps addressed earlier in the thread -- there's nothing explicitly supernatural happening in Midsommar at all (which, I suppose, is very Wicker Man too). Lots of ritual, sacrifice, etc. etc. but at no point is there a formal externalized sense that there's actually something beyond an explanation of things having always been like that.

Related to which, I kinda appreciated how there wasn't an actual 'head' of the cult as such. Leading figures, sure, but there was a kind of mutability happening, no one in specific making a final call, which fits in with the whole collective idea. And whatever practical considerations were or weren't happening as well, I kinda liked the weird sense that I got that the actual cult membership wasn't...consistent somehow. Again, could be sloppy filmmaking (kinda doubt that given Aster's obvious eye for the obsessive), could be down to what extras were available on what days, but I'd need a rewatch to see if it was always the same people each time filling out the corners, because it suited the air of dreaminess/otherworldy activity, combined with the idea of shifting and damaged perceptions.

that is a good point, and it's in the film's favor that it is basically realistic or plausible at the very least - makes me want to see it again, which I probably will tomorrow. I have no desire to see Hereditary again because the ending just eliminates any ambiguity for me, and severely complicates the whole thing and bungles an otherwise compelling & ambiguous movie.

One thing I keep thinking about is the final shot. the only time that Dani smiles in the entire movie?

did anyone else think of Sigur Ros when she said thank you in swedish