Ari Aster's MIDSOMMAR (2019)

You know what, never mind.

The summary on Wikipedia doesn’t even mention which character is black.

why is it necessary or even good for a film set in a weird European village to hew to contemporary US racial politics?

I mean, the writer-director is American (along with, we can assume, the bulk of the financing) and the festival is made up, so it hardly seems out of bounds

It's also a well-known horror trope that black people in those movies largely exist to be brutally murdered in front of or in the vicinity of the Final Girl

I'm not gonna get around to this movie till it's on Amazon Prime, so if answering my questions would require too much spoilage feel free to ignore me, but...is there much made of the black guy being "a black guy," or is he just seen by the villagers/cultists as "not from here" just like the other protagonists?

SPOILER

All these things, and he's the most committed to research, the smartest, yet he must collaborate with the boyfriend-asshole.

Lots of insane stuff in this movie but IMHO the most audacious move was to visually reference the Wicker Man remake during the climax. That is some next level cinematic trolling.

Good new Haxan Cloak interview re the score:

https://thequietus.com/articles/26744-the-haxan-cloak-midsommar-ari-aster-bobby-krlic-interview

Also worth noting — when I mentioned to my partner how I thought all the constant background activity was one of the film’s best points, she immediately said it made her think of Drowning By Numbers. Lo and behold, Krlic brings up that both he and Aster bonded over a mutual Peter Greenaway love among other things.

Seeing this tonight, but another thing I find interesting about this guy's movies is that no one can seem to agree about their degree of intentionality. I saw someone on twitter argue, for instance, that the ending of this one was "funny" and "wasn't supposed to be." Meanwhile in an AVClub interview Aster says he thinks of the movie as a dark comedy and specifically cited the ending!

I’m a bit bemused at the idea of seeing this film and thinking the humour was unintentional

Ari Aster is incredible at inserting bleak humor into his films. The reveal at the start of his short The Strange Thing About the Johnsons is simultaneously the darkest and funniest sight gag I think I've ever seen.

I enjoyed this.

Spoilery question - after the boyfriend was supposedly taken to the airport, did anybody else hear a woman screaming in the scene a few minutes later?

Yeah that was clearly Connie.

Figured. Thought that was a great touch. It was unsettling.

Loooooooved this for so many reasons. Haven’t read the thread yet. Some things I liked including but not limited to :
— casting no famous ppl, yes
— Dani was perfect, the intro scenes set up her emotional state perfectly, her face!!
— in spite of some of the gruesome scenes (the cliff!!), nothing about this movie rung gross to me
— I’ve never seen a cis het male character so obviously uncomfortable in a sex scene and I appreciated that, nice change of pace

SPOILERS!

Dug this a lot, though it's definitely too long. It could have painlessly lost 20-30 minutes. I'm a big fan of the way Aster juxtaposes fussy imagery with lowbrow humor. (I did wonder how many of Poulter's lines were ADR'd in after the fact.) Pugh was of course great but I really loved Reynor in this, so convincingly loathsome in a way we all recognize, yet also touchingly pathetic throughout the final act. (It helped that I related deeply to his physical discomfort while surrounded by revelry, having recently enjoyed a nervous breakdown whilst on vacation.)

I don't really understand Alfred's objection here:

Coming after a battle with Christian about who will take credit over their shared thesis about village customs, it’s hard to know who’s exploiting whom when it’s easier to see which minority gets punished for being smart; Aster stages the scene as if Josh is getting his comeuppance.

I mean, he *is*, for blatantly disrespecting an explicit rule pretty gravely given to him a couple of scenes earlier. It's in character, too, since it makes sense that he would be driven to do a distinctly better job than Reynor's character and will take any advantage he can get. He's not punished for "being smart." I get that it plays differently given the tropes associated w/ black guys in horror movies but I don't think it's fair to say that it's staged with glee or lingering violence compared to, say, the extended daytime hillside-mallet deaths. (Also, if DJP is looking for a precise answer to his earlier question: WJH bites it in roughly the order of his billing, and the final girl isn't really involved in any fashion.)

If there's an obvious political objection to this movie, I would think it would be the use of the disfigured inbred character, which is some straight-out-of-the-70s (or earlier) shit. Though Reynor and Harper's cultural relativism/detached academic interest in the proceedings was fairly timeless.

Also, Krlic's score was cool, and way out of his Haxan Cloak wheelhouse, but I can't imagine listening to it in isolation like I sometimes do with Stetson's score for Hereditary.

I’ve never seen a cis het male character so obviously uncomfortable in a sex scene and I appreciated that, nice change of pace

this was very deliberate it seems

https://www.thewrap.com/midsommar-jack-reynor-full-frontal-nudity-ari-aster/

"If there's an obvious political objection to this movie, I would think it would be the use of the disfigured inbred character, which is some straight-out-of-the-70s (or earlier) shit."

It's weirdly never used though... except for a couple of shots and then the incest "joke".

I really liked this and it was only in the last twenty or so minutes that I was like wait how fucking long is this movie??!?! it really breezes along nicely until then. I am going to make a lot of jokes about my Swedish friends from now on too.

I knew it was long going in and I didn’t feel any drag at all even tho my screening finished up around midnight

I did wonder how many of Poulter's lines were ADR'd in after the fact.)

A lot of the dialogue had the feel of obvious adr, disembodied and too-prominent whether it’s a background character or protagonist, which is a part of the sound design Ned was talking about

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."

I couldn't tell you Herediatry is a better film. It's really not.

i probably just repeated a lot of what i said the first time around there lol

the sounds throughout the ending (the singing, groaning, screaming, crying) were super-intense in the theater - they didn't elicit any chuckles (from me)!

yeah, i was watching this on my beat-up TV this time around so the effect of some scenes was diminished

first time i saw it as at the cinema though

finally watching the director’s cut

this movie is so fucking amazing

Someone should tell those girls they're walkin stupid

lmao

I feel like I wast a whole genre of this movie.

Midsummer
Og Wicker Man

Yesterday I randomly remembered the scene where the kids are watching a DVD of Austin Powers and started lmfao in a hotel lobby

Someone tell those girls they're walking stupid

lol i just came here to post “somebody should tell these girls they’re walking stupid”