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| Forever traumatized :) |
Welcome back to another Sunday post! This time, I want to review a horror movie I saw today: "Midsommar", directed by writer-director Ari Aster. I know this movie came out last year and a lot of people has seen it. But I never had the chance to see it until today. Since I know some of my readers haven't seen it yet, I will keep this review as spoiler free as possible.
"Midsommar" tells the story of a young woman in her twenties called Dani, who has anxiety and has recently gone through some serious trauma related to her family. Her boyfriend Christian is very emotionally detached, he treats her as if she's exaggerating her emotions, doesn't share anything with her, and is basically just biding his time until he gets out of the relationship. In Ema language, Christian is an asshole. Period.
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| This girl deserved better. |
Christian is planning to go to Sweden (without telling Dani) with his three friends: thesis-obsessed Josh, the fool and jerk Mark, and the sweet (and Swedish) Pelle. They are going to see Pelle's family who will be having a cultural celebration, which Josh and later Christian think will help them with their thesis. Dani comes along on the journey despite her anxiety and how this group of men treat her. After arriving at Sweden and seeing Pelle's big family, Dani soon realizes that what seemed at first an innocent celebration of nature, is actually a dark and dangerous cult. And maybe, just maybe, her key to freedom.
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| From left to right: Christian, Josh and Mark. Coward, heartless and brainless. |
That's pretty much what I can say about the plot without spoiling anything away. But believe me, it's good. It's one of the best horror movies I have ever seen, but as the director I see it more as a very dark fairy tale. In fact, the director compared this movie to "The Wizard of Oz", but for perverts (more on this idea later).
One of the reasons why I believe it's so good it's the characters. The one that stood out the most for me was Dani, of course. We can see her path from someone who is emotionally neglected, who has gone through hard things, a girl who feels desperately alone and is ignored and mistreated, to someone who finally becomes free. I want to give a special recognition to actress Florence Pugh. For me she did an amazing job portraying a woman with anxiety and other problems; every scene was believable and emotionally wrenching, and that is not easy to perform.
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| Florence was amazing in this movie. |
The group of men that accompanied Dani really served their purpose well, which was either dragging her down or helping her as Pelle did. Dani's journey to self-discovery and freedom goes partly hand-in-hand with these three men, much like Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz". Dorothy and Dani both go through a traumatic event, find themselves in an idyllic landscape with funny but kind people, and embark on a journey of self-discovery, while finding out the dark realities of their new world. In the end, both girls find out they are more powerful than they actually believe, and find a voice and agency of their own.
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| YAS GIRL WORK IT HONEY |
Christian, Dani's boyfriend, I compare to the Cowardly Lion. Christian's greatest sin in the story is apathy. He doesn't really care about Dani or anything in general. He lacks passion, ambition and vision, oh my!
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| See what I did there? I'll see myself out now, thank you. |
Christian lacks the courage to actually do anything, and it's this passivity that dooms him.
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| Christian is the coward of the story. |
Josh, Christian's friend, I relate to the Tin Man. Josh's only motivation are his studies and his research, with little regards for others' beliefs or feelings. In other words, he's heartless- like our tin friend from Oz.
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| At least this guy could cry, you know? |
Then we have Mark who is a huge jerk. He is very disrespectful, says things without thinking, and apparently only thinks about sex and having a good time. He doesn't think before he acts or speaks, making him the perfect brainless Scarecrow.
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| The Scarecrow could at least solve math problems. All Mark can do is smoke from his vape. |
Then we have Pelle who reminds me of the Wizard. Just like the Wizard, he is just a man and he doesn't solve the girl's problems. He does show kindness and compassion towards Dani, but he is sending her to a very dangerous situation where she could die, just like the Wizard did with Dorothy. In the end, both girls conquer the dangers around them, with Pelle and the Wizard being mere tools for the girl getting what she needs.
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| Pelle be asking the real questions here. |
The family, or commune, were really sweet sometimes and extremely disturbing at others. This is a very violent society, whose believes are centered around their pagan ideas of nature, life and death. Their violence and way of living is perfectly normal for them, even though it's weird for us viewers and shocking for the characters. All of their darkness is covered in white clothing, seemingly peaceful ways, and flowers (there are thousands of flowers in this movie).
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| I wasn't exaggerating with the flower thing. |
Another reason why I liked this movie so much was the visuals. This movie is GORGEOUS! The contrast between Dani's life in America (which always looked grey) and her life in Sweden (full of vibrant colors) was beautiful and stunning. The patterns on the walls, the clothing, the temples, the houses, the chairs and more: it was all connected, all perfect and amazing. The lightning was brilliant and happy during all the Sweden scenes, making you feel in full Summer even if you watch it on winter. Also, the way some very specific scenes were filmed was great. There was gore of course, but it wasn't exaggerated; there weren't buckets of blood, or excessive violent sequences. It all felt as natural as possible.
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| Let's kill someone and sing Kumbaya, I guess. |
The third reason why I liked this movie was the music. It was creepy several times, but overall it was mostly cheerful. And that's what makes it so disturbing. You get to see some very shocking and graphic scenes, all played under happy music. It was unnerving to say the least. Also, a lot of people were dancing, singing, laughing and jumping during these violent scenes, making it even more disturbing.
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| I won't complain about white people dancing ever again. |
Here are most of the thoughts I had while watching "Midsommar":
1- WHAT THE F****!
2- What's with this bloody music?
3- A bunch of white people, all wearing white... I am afraid.
4- There's only one black man in the movie. Surrounded by a lot of white, violent people. This can't end well.
5- The Manson family wearing flowers.
6- Girl, you better dump his sorry existence to the curb ASAP!
7- I'm never going to Sweden during the summer (no offense).
8- Mark is a jerk who needs to go :)
9- Can I get a flower crown too?
10- I can't deal with this.
11- So... they just jumped off the ****************
12- Yay... murder and nature and stuff.
13- Burn them all!
14- The anxiety attacks look very realistic.
15- I've never seen a horror movie that mostly takes place during the day.
16- All the drugs are giving me "Alice in Wonderland" vibes.
17- All I see is drugs, murder, suicide, sex, a cult, some weird rituals, and white people.
18- I can see some elements of the third season of "The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina".
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| Girl, I'm no fool. I can see what you did there! |
Overall, "Midsommar" is one hell of a horror movie or dark fairy tale, however you want to see it. I give you a fair warning though: if you by any chance have anxiety, I wouldn't watch this movie, or I'd watch it carefully and slowly. I know from a friend of mine that the anxiety scenes, specifically one with a full-blown panic attack, were very triggering for her. Be careful if you still wish to see this movie.
Besides this, I believe it's a brilliant movie. It treats mental health respectfully, which I liked. It doesn't use any stupid jump scare, which modern day horror movies are plagued with. They managed to make a horrifying story in plain daylight, something that is not seen often in the horror genre. They captured the true horror of the situation, made a very disturbing ending, and left me with a great sense of dread.
In conclusion, I give "Midsommar":
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| Five out of five stars. |
If you watched this movie, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. If you haven't, check it out and give it a try. See you next Sunday, and take care.
P.S I ask for more horror movies like this one. With good quality and material, and no stupid jump scares.
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