Midsommar (2019) 🌽🌽

Another movie with creepy visuals, a creepy cult and outdated religious practices from A24, Midsommar hits all the notes you expect from this studio and if that’s your bag, you’ll like this.

It’s not my bag

I’m going to attempt to compliment sandwich this review because while I did not care for the movie in ways I’ll elaborate, there are things worthy of praise

The cinematography is very good. Poignant shots linger, visual foreshadowing is all over this movie for those watching with a keen eye (and not live tweeting, oops)

The bright colors, beautiful blue skies and a plethora of vibrant flowers make for a delightful juxtaposition to what we are viewing

Speaking of what we are viewing… *exasperated sigh* I got problems. The run time is 20-30 minutes longer than it needs to be, the plot a bit too predictable for me. At least hereditary made you think it was mental illness before the disappointing cult reveal.

But when you have a very obvious story hook, it’s about how you tell the story. And while much of the story was interesting, the pacing was very slow making the film often feel dull

Also, this ceremony is held every 90 years. People only live to 72. Why haven’t they just said “maybe we shouldn’t?” I know it’s a cult but there are plenty of elders that coulda seen the day coming up and go “hey maybe we shouldn’t?”

Anyways…

Christian is such an abhorrent character that the ending holds no weight. Sure he was manipulated by the Swedish cult but he was presented the whole movie as a self-absorbed user.

Speaking of lack of weight…

Not enough emphasis was put on the opening sequence. Extremely traumatic and while it comes back a couple times, in a 150+ movie you kinda forget about it

And now to finish the sandwich I thought the acting was excellent. Florence Pugh is an absolute star and I’m excited for her MCU future. Jack Reynor as Christian was very convincing both as a hatable diet chris pratt douche to the very believable bad trip

In conclusion if you like the creepy horror auteur films that Aster provided then you’re gonna enjoy this one. It’s quite good by that genre’s standards

However that genre is not for me. I often find myself bored waiting for the next “disturbing” visual. Slow-burning, very obvious, hokey religious cult horror movie where teenagers die and the movie just kinda ends. Might be the best one of the bunch though…