Though still a relative newcomer to the industry, writer/director Ari Aster is already a name to be reckoned with. Ari grew up with a love of horror, practically scouring the horror section of every video store he found. Having graduated from the AFI Conservatory, he started his career making shorts, including 2011’s The Strange Thing About the Johnsons. A thesis film he made while at school, the short garnered a lot of attention after being leaked online. Between 2011 and 2018, he made a total of five short films, until getting his big chance in 2018. That year, Ari made his feature film debut, Hereditary, which ended up being both a critical and financial success. While the film polarized audiences, no one could deny that Ari Aster had a bright future ahead of him. So, one year later, Ari has returned with his newest film, Midsommar.
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Dani (Florence Pugh) has just recently suffered a family tragedy, and looks to her boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor) for comfort. Unbeknownst to her, he has been talking with his friends about how he’s been wanting to end the relationship. He and his friends, Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren), Josh (William Jackson Harper), and Mark (Will Poulter) are planning a midsummer trip. Dani decides to tag along to help clear her mind, much to the chagrin of Christian and his friends. They travel to a small village in Sweden that Pelle grew up in to partake in their annual midsummer festival. At first, things seem peaceful and tranquil, if not slightly strange, but things soon take a turn for the worse. Some of the others try to leave the village, only to be met with opposition from the villagers. While Christian and friends have their suspicions, Dani comes to accept them.
Hereditary was easily one of the best films of 2018, despite forgetting to include it on my best-of list. So naturally, when I heard the director of that had a new film coming out, I was sold right away. Having now seen Midsommar, I don’t think this is as good as Hereditary, but it’s still an impressive film. Acting-wise, everyone does a great job, particularly Florence Pugh, whose performance is mesmerizing. Not only is she instantly sympathetic, but she handles the more emotional scenes very well and even has some intensity. Much like his previous films, Ari clearly knows where to point the camera, as the film-making on display is exquisite. The cinematography and editing really help give Midsommar a sense of unease and disorientation, especially in the third act. On a technical level, this is easily one of the most well-made and impressive films of 2019 so far.
However, like I said before, Midsommar has some issues that hold it back from being perfect, but still great nonetheless. For one, the opening of Dani’s family tragedy doesn’t really play into what happens later on, serving merely as setup. Granted, there are times throughout the film where Dani occasionally has visions of her family after their tragedy. While Hereditary did a great job at exploring how we deal with grief and tragedy, this doesn’t explore those themes. Instead, Midsommar explores themes of toxic masculinity and challenging societal norms, particularly in Dani’s relationship with Christian. Also, the very concept of Americans visiting a foreign land and bad things happening is a story we’ve already seen. While not necessarily a bad thing, because it’s a familiar story, you can more or less determine where it’s going. Overall, Midsommar is still an impressive and worthwhile sophomore film from Aster despite some flaws.
