Midsommar REVIEW

SPOILERS***

Midsommar is an attractive horror movie that will only be remembered for its gor(e)geous imagery.

Our heroine, Dani, is introduced with a disturbing tragedy. A creepy email from her bipolar sister worries her to enough to call her unhelpful boyfriend, Christian. She is comforted by talking to him, but he tells her to ignore it. It is just another cry for attention. Dani is not the needy and demanding girl that Christian’s friends make her out to be once he gets off the phone. She is appropriately concerned. As it turns out, she was right to be worried: her sister has committed suicide and murdered her parents, running a tube from the exhaust pipe of the cars to her mouth and their bedroom as they sleep. The title credits roll.

Unfortunately nothing from this opening sequence recurs in the plot. Its only purpose was to make us sympathetic to Dani. That’s fine, I guess. She is a nice girl before she deserved our sympathy. It wouldn’t make sense for it to recur anyway, because Dani is going to a foreign country she has never been and has no connection with. It would be some coincidence if somehow the festival she attends was demonically connected to her sister’s murder-suicide. Such perfect portents would force a comparison with Hereditary, and I wouldn’t mind. That movie had a better plot, even as a watered down Rosemary's Baby. Alas, we must move on.

So we feel sympathy for Dani because this is a truly horrible tragedy and her boyfriend is feigning romantic interest in her, for sympathy sake. Without a family, and her birthday coming up, she is reluctantly invited by Christian’s to his friend’s commune’s festival in Sweden.

Obviously Christian and all of his friends are going to die. We are a curiously twisted audience, and want to know and see exactly how it is they die. We want gore.

The rest of the movie takes place in Horror-Trope Ville. The plot is predictable but well hidden behind all the other things that make it an above average movie: gore, pacing, special effects, imagery, score. These aspects make up for the plot.

There is a murder-suicide that takes place after a creepy and drawn out dinner scene. It was exceptionally gory, and even teased the audience by recurring the gore for a dream sequence. I am squeamish, but appreciated how tastefully this was done. But...it didn’t foreshadow anything. It should have. They should have killed Christian that way!

Then there is a long stretch of time where there isn’t any gore. Some characters “go missing” or “leave early” with the subtlety of a bludgeoning. Obviously they are dead, they have been killed. As a bloodthirsty audience we would like to know how, right now. But Ari Aster is approaching mastery; he tastefully exchanges pacing for on screen torture and death of these disposable characters. We find out what happens to them later, but are left wondering how. It was a nice touch.

Christian is tempted to have sex with by a commune girl, then drugged by the commune while Dani is engaged in a dance off. She returns victorious, crowned the May Queen, and witnesses him having sex with the commune girl in a mating ceremony. The commune elders admit in an earlier scene that they need outsiders to keep the commune members from inbreeding. The seldom seen retarded oracle character is the product of exclusive inbreeding, to preserve the bloodline. Some exposition wouldn’t have hurt the mystery here. It might contribute positively more to the lacking climax.

The final day of the festival requires nine human sacrifices, one for each decade since the last festival. The May Queen has the privilege to choose the ninth. She chooses Christian because being crowned May Queen has made her vindictive. He is poisoned, and cannot speak or move. He couldn’t reasonably defend himself anyway.)This makes it easier for the commune members to place him inside a disemboweled bear. It also makes it impossible for him to escape the yellow temple when they burn it down with him inside.

It may have been explained, but the commune also sacrifices two of their own for the burning of the yellow temple because they need exactly nine sacrifices, one for every decade since the last festival. Seems like a waste of young, useful males in a commune that really needs them. Then Dani smiles, out of character, and the movie ends.

The movie could have gone in another direction. For instance, Christian and Dani could have been in love, and Christian could have been poisoned, then raped by the commune girl, then Dani could have seen rape, misunderstood his infidelity and chosen him for the burning as a new vindictive May Queen. He could have screamed as he burned instead of being paralyzed. Screams are terrifying.

I was not quenched by the climax. The clues presented on the tapestries and in dialogue did not amount to a climax that paid off. They were just disappointing red herrings.

There was mention of ‘the black one’ but there was no black one, no demon that they summoned in the final scene. No black smoke on the horizon. The Americans and Londoners were all killed, and that was supposed to be enough for us. I knew what there purpose was, so it wasn’t enough for me. Sorry.

The daylight gimmick didn’t add anything to the plot either. The characters still go to bed at bedtime and they always know what time it is. It was more for mood and imagery and excuse to shamelessly show the audience all the gore. I don’t necessarily disagree with that function.

And what about the festival needs to happen every 90 years? Suicides should be more frequent. People turn 72 more frequently than every 90 years I thought.

I’m nitpicking the plot now that the movie is over. This is the price a good filmmaker pays when he raises the bar so drastically. I hold him to the new standards. I’m looking forward to the next one. Do another horror mystery with a climax this time please.