Ari Aster's MIDSOMMAR (2019)

she and the boyfriend both start out as these indecisive blanks, which is why it's weird halfway through when the boyfriend is revealed to have some secret backstabbing academic ambition.

boyfriend is depicted from the get-go as basically a loser and a jerk, it's remarkable they give him absolutely no redeeming qualities or moments (making her "choice" at the end a foregone conclusion that should come as a surprise to no one)

i refer people who believe dani has no agency to this entire thread

i don't want to really get into my probs with this b/c it won't be fun for any of us but does anyone want to tell me why dani's big moment (choosing to kill christian) happened offscreen?

it would have been a surprise if they included a scene of her making such a choice, but it's cut to be consistent with the idea that she's still just going with the flow.

xxp I read his "academic ambition" more as flailing to find something to grasp onto, albeit in the most jerkass-possible way. He's clearly a such an empty person that the best thing he can think to do is bite his friend's thesis.

that's interesting! academia as a nordic cult that swallows up empty people.

Dani, offscreen: BURN THE BAD GRAD STUDENT

why dani's big moment (choosing to kill christian) happened offscreen?

because it's a foregone conclusion, and cutting to him being stuffed into a bear suit is funnier/more dramatic

"bear say hi to me" redefined

Japanese poster title

they give him absolutely no redeeming qualities

Is not breaking up with her a redeeming quality? Letting her tag along on his bro-cation?

The fact that Christian was chosen by the cult for his sperm was kind of interesting, suggesting that he had at least one thing to offer, and maybe only that.

One plot point I thought was strange and unnecessary and I didn't really understand was when Christian decided he'd steal Mark's thesis. It became a point of conflict in two scenes (the initial argument, the later scene where Pelle insists that they both share the work equally). It seemed to serve no purpose except possibly to establish that Christian DID in fact have no value as a person.

*replace "Mark" with "Josh" in the last post, got my generic male names confused

neither it not josh’s unethical turn really made sense and honestly neither ended up mattering.

the script for this could have gone through....several levels of refinement.

I think it did and this is where it ended up. He said it was cut down a lot, though I have no idea if the script that was apparently leaked was the shooting script, a final script or a draft. I know he was disappointed the script was leaked, which implies it wasn't done or maybe wasn't representative of what he ultimately settled on?

It seemed to serve no purpose except possibly to establish that Christian DID in fact have no value as a person.

yeah was the only takeaway afaict

yeah that was the only takeaway, I mean

was I the only one who wished there had maybe been some quality metal on the sdtk? Would also have accepted this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOVfdPUR9zc

Is not breaking up with her a redeeming quality? Letting her tag along on his bro-cation?

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, July 18, 2019 4:17 PM (twenty-six minutes ago)

no that is not a redeeming quality
he passively did both -- it would have taken more energy for him to tell her to take a hike (in their relationship or wrt the trip) than it would for him to carry on with the status quo. of course he just kept going along according to plan.

metal would have been ok but i am holding out for droney jams

But if he had broken up with her, that would have been bad, too, wouldn't it have been? Because I still see no reason for him to stick with her except out of sympathy, and that's not a bad reason, is it?

well yeah I meant like drone-metal sort of stuff. Sunnn O))), Earth that kind of thing

xp

he doesn't stick with her out of sympathy, it's out of laziness and cowardice

he's so sympathetic he has to "go party" but he'll be back in a couple hours etc.

it was the easiest path! you are giving him too much credit.
i think it's ludicrous to suggest that breaking up with her was even an option. dude coasted for FOUR YEARS he is not getting off that train unless she pushes him.

Why would he want to be on that train?

I didn't like any of these people except maybe Pelle, who was at least a straight shooter?

i don't think breaking up with her was EVER going to happen.

his friends were complaining about it but i don't think he ever intended to do it or he...would have done it a long time ago

Lol at calling Pelle a straight shooter

“Btw my family is going to ritually murder all of you, except the one I have the hots for!” = a thing he never says

He sort of does at times! He just elides over the little details.

He totally seemed to me the sort of weirdo that, when asked why they were not told about ritual suicide and murder, would respond, "oh, you never asked." The dummies in this are weak in the follow-up department. "That is a bear." "They are playing skin the fool." "Tomorrow is the great shmerdehaaaven ritual, it's a little hard to explain." "What's in the drink, oh just something that will make you feel good." He/that was the funniest part to me.

yeah don't get me wrong after Pugh I think Pelle was by far the most interesting actor on-screen. He really captures a specific kind of avuncular Scandinavian, conveying that sense of being open and easygoing

Reminded me of the Finnish prime minister in Veep.

he does tell them all straight up they kill everyone at 72.

But if he had broken up with her, that would have been bad, too, wouldn't it have been?

From experiences in my life, I can honestly say that it's much better for someone to be honest and admit they can't support you, than for them to consistently fail to support you when they're supposed to.

I didn't feel the same way as you, emil.y. To me, it felt as if Christian was overtaxed already with having to deal with "his girlfriend's bipolar sister", and then was completely hinged into a situation where he was having to care for a woman who'd lost her parents and her sister.

Overall I felt the movie tried to portray Christian as an oaf with an insurmountable task.

I think there are two viable readings of Christian, one in which "he is bad", which the whole "I'm stealing your thesis" side plot would seem to support, and a particular "the hexes do nothing, your man is garbage" interpretation of his post menstrual-pubic existence.

The other reading is that "Christian is stupid", where the whole "I'm stealing your thesis" was less significant than the direction implied, and the drugs were strong, and he didn't fuck that creepy woman willingly, and he is staring out of his Tanooki suit with his expression of "..what?" because he doesn't understand that He Is Stupid.

There is also the possibility that he is bad and also stupid

I found Christian sort of sympathetic because he's just such a recognizable fuckup of a certain age. The kind of guy who could maybe make something of himself at some point if he decided to be more genuine or something, but is so driftless and indecisive that he just gloms onto everyone else's ideas (in every sense). I definitely had a period in life where I was somewhat Christian-like due to depression and circumstance, though I was never a grad student. Like I guess he is a "bad boyfriend" but that's really just a side effect.

I'm sure my sympathies w Christian don't have anything to do w the fact that I also kept a relationship going too long partially due to issues in my partner's personal/family life, which I suspect is actually an extremely common dynamic to one extent or another

Well, I have good news, Simon H., you have been selected as our ninth sacrifice

As long as the yew tree is ripe this year.

Saw it a second time. Loved it much more as I watched for things i missed the first time. Like Mark saying he saw Connie training for the "sprinting Olympics" earlier, implying he saw her running for her life and was to aloof to care.

Also, Christian is a terrible person. Not just to Dani. He steals his best friend's thesis, only to make himself the victim and then sell his friend out at the first sign of trouble when the book disappears.

He sees Dani thoroughly concerned about Simon's disappearance, disaffectedly says "wow, what a dick move", completely misreading her terror that something is amiss, before resuming his conversation with a member of the community.

He's so phony, that when he's completely chill after the antestuppa scene and she calls him on it, he says "it was SHOCKING" in the least convincing way possible and mentions he needs to keep an open mind, with zero regard for how triggering it had to be for Dani.

Also his behavior during the argument about the Sweden trip is classic manipulative behavior. She is rightfully calling him out, mildly at that, also saying his apology was bullshit, so he acted aggrieved and threatened to get home to back down.

Also the look on his face at the end slayed me. "Of all the ways I expected to die, burned alive inside a dead bear wasn't even in the neighborhood".

I definitely felt more dread and terror the second time around. You know people are dying, but you're hoping it's for more rational reasons. Connie and her fiancee looked spooked and might have alerted authorities. Mark violated their ancestral tree. Josh broke their trust. Still terrible, extralegal reasons to kill anybody, but sensible.

Then you find out that four of them were intended to die from the onset, regardless of their actions, and it was just a matter of which 4, and would there be a 5th. It was purely a numbers game. 4 new bloods, 4 natives, 1 May Queen choice.

Not for a harvest either - just to eradicate evil.

I also thought to myself that all of them should have realized they were doomed at the antestuppa ceremony. No community would let outsiders see that, for fear of them fleeing and exposing them. You either die or you become a Horge!

lol SENSIBLE??

Sensible in that each death had its own motive and was in some form of accordance with protecting the commune. Note I also said "terrible" and "extralegal".

Like it mattered not that Connie and her fiancee were possibly going to blow a lid off of the goings on. That just made them the first two chosen of the required four.

Mark was a douche that pissed on their tree, so he was number three. Josh broke his secrecy agreement, so he was 4. Since only five guests were originally invited, that would have left one extra to either be killed, or join their commune.

Dani being the May Queen was dumb luck. She wasn't supposed to be going originally and only five new bloods were required (4 for certain sacrifice, 1 50/50 chance of sacrifice)

In other words, even if all five of them went and had the time of their lives, they'd mostly all have been slaughtered anyway.

it's true that their fate was sealed as soon as they got on the plane to Sweden. you couldn't pay me to go to anything like that place... sacrifices or no sacrifices... shared meals? sleeping in a cabin with half a dozen other people without walls? No

In general i don't like to go on vacations with other people, period

The crying babby would be enough to nope me back to Stockholm.

LOL yeah @ expecting anybody not related to that babby to put up w that shit