Midsommar (2019) Review – A Sun-Drenched and Visceral Study of Grief

Welcome to Knockout Horror. Today we are reviewing Ari Aster’s second feature film Midsommar (2019).

A story of grief and breaking free from co-dependency

The movie opens with a tragedy striking our protagonist Dani (Florence Pugh) and her immediate family before picking things up a few months later. Dani’s boyfriend, Christian, reluctantly invites Dani to come along with him and his friends to Sweden. Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren), a friend of Christian, is originally from a small commune in Hälsingland and has requested his friends come on a trip with him to his home to celebrate the Midsummer festival.

The festival only occurs once every 90 years and the group are eager to have some fun. Dani is reluctant but her obvious dependency on her boyfriend drives her to follow him.

Arrival at the festival is met with glorious sights but also horrific events that hint at something sinister haunting the community. Over the course of the next few days, Dani will open her eyes to the inadequacies of her emotionally distant partner and hell will be unleashed.

It might not be what people expect

Midsommar, at its heart, is a story of grief and of failing relationships. It is a study of human emotion and dependency that just happens to be set around a cult like group of people. The villagers are not the villains of Midsommar, grief is. The people occupying its world are little more than collateral damage. The stories of the two main characters, Dani and Christian, just happen to run alongside the events of the Midsummer festival. With this in mind, it might not play out how many expect.

“Midsommar, at its heart, is a story of grief and of failing relationships. It is a study of human emotion and dependency that just happens to be set around a cult-like group of people.”

The movie opens up with Dani experiencing a horrible tragedy. Aster loves to see women suffering tremendous grief and its a stark and harrowing introduction. The rest of the way, he is going to project a series of shocking events up against a backdrop of glorious, permanently bright scenery.

It’s reminiscent of The Wicker Man but there’s a much keener focus on shocking the viewer, here. Well, shocking the viewer and tricking them into watching two people realise they aren’t as close as they thought they were.

In between the familiar relationship troubles and pagan festival stuff, there’s the odd moment of visceral horror carnage. It’s not the backbone of the story, however. Just as Hereditary was a domestic drama, Midsommar is a relationship drama. There’s a ton of focus placed on Dani’s gradual mental distancing from her boyfriend. It’s going to lead to a dramatic conclusion but it may surprise many who are here for scares. That doesn’t mean the horror isn’t affecting, though…

It’s often quite disturbing but not as much as the hype suggests

I can’t really go too much into the story of Midsommar here as I have an earnest desire to keep my reviews as spoiler free as possible. What I can say, however, is that Midsommar is becoming particularly notorious for certain disturbing scenes.

In fact, when we were standing in the cinema, waiting to get shown to the screen, the usher said “Now that is a bad film.. And I don’t mean bad as in not good, I mean bad as in horrible. People are coming out telling me how disgusting it is“.

Is Midsommar graphic at times? Definitely! Would I say it is somewhat indulgent in its portrayal of injury? Yes, it is. I wouldn’t, however, say it is as bad as a lot of people would lead you to believe. To be honest, I would actually say it is somewhat cartoon like and aimed purely at shocking the viewer. I didn’t witness anyone walking out of the cinema and there was no audible gasps.

There were walkouts in American Sniper and even Disney’s A Christmas Carol when we watched them. Everyone stayed firmly planted for Midsommar so I think people are overrating the disturbing nature a little. I would say, however, if you are put off by depictions of injuries, you may want to avoid Midsommar. There are a couple of scenes that will probably upset people who aren’t veterans of the genre. The horror is effective but it’s not as common as you might think. It’s a far more psychologically affecting movie than you might think.

Gorgeous cinematography

Midsommar is an absolutely beautiful film to look at. Horror movies rarely look this good and you are almost always taken aback by both the scenery and the camera work. Colours pop off the screen in an almost psychedelic manner and everything has something of an oil painting quality to it.

The events happening on screen contrast so sharply with the picturesque scenery and camera work. The fact that everything that takes place does so in such a beautiful environment and in broad daylight actually adds to the horror element.

“Midsommar is an absolutely beautiful film to look at. Horror movies rarely look this good; colours pop off the screen in an almost psychedelic manner with an oil painting quality.”

There are a few shots that I did question the direction of, however. Images being flipped upside down and spinning camera angles left me feeling almost queasy. I understand the reasoning for it but I just felt as though it didn’t work. Pulsating parts of the costumes and sets, seemingly added via CG, looked pretty poor, as well. They were almost video game like in their presentation. Yes, I get that we are supposed to relate to how Dani is feeling but I can do that without the gaudy effects.

Acting is a mixed bag

Florence Pugh is, for the most part, very good as Dani. I am seeing a lot of hyperbole surrounding her performance. While I think she did well I felt as though she overacted at times. I would put this down to Ari Aster more than anything. He loves to drag these weepy, over the top performances out of his female leads.

For me, the rest of the cast was a mix of average and plain bad. Vilhelm Blomgren, as Pelle, came across as pure creepy. I have no clue why anyone would want to spend a week with this person in a secluded part of his home country. Maybe the character was supposed to come across like this? Is it a good thing that I am not sure?

Jack Reynor was a huge let down. He seemed disconnected from the events of the movie and some of his reactions were so unbelievable as to really take me out of the moment. Some of the extras looked as though they were lacking direction, as well. Just standing around looking lost and confused as events unfolded around them. This isn’t a huge problem but it is something I noticed a few times. Will Poulter is a treat, as always.

Bold, brave, but a little bit confused

This is the best way I can describe Midsommar. It is a bold movie that is very daring in many ways. Taking such a slow burn approach to what is essentially a film about a dying relationship while masking it in a Wicker Man-esque folk horror is risky. For the most part, it actually works quite well. When I look back on it, however, I can’t help but think of all of the elements separately and how they ultimately didn’t gel together too well.

“Midsommar is not a scary horror movie. It will leave you feeling uneasy and stay with you when you leave the screen, but I very much doubt it will scare you.”

Pacing is a little off and the film can seem confused at times. Almost unsure of where it wants to go and what it wants to be. It feels as though some scenes are missing and as though even the actors are a little unsure of what is going on. I will point out that Midsommar is absolutely full of metaphors and foreshadowing. Much of which can really make you think when the movie ends. It’s a great movie to chat about with another horror fan though I won’t go into it here as we are spoiler free.

With the positives and negatives in mind, let’s not forget that this is only Ari Aster’s second feature film. A few slip ups here and there are to be expected. With more time and experience, I would expect much tighter movies with better pacing and a clearer vision of what they want to be.

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