Well, if you watched Aster’s previous film Hereditary, you know this one is going to be interesting at least. And it is. Pretty fucked up kinda interesting, in a sociological pagan society kinda way. It’s not pretty. But also beautiful in its own right. Those crazy dichotomies!
Dani is pretty distraught. Her disturbed sister has sent her an even more disturbing email. A bad one. She’s pretty fuckin worried. Her boyfriend Christian tries to calm her over the phone. It almost works. Then brutal realities come into play, and she’s...broken. Her struggling boyfriend tries to accommodate. Time passes but things… don’t really improve. She ends up tagging along with Christian and his buddies on a trip to Sweden, partly for college thesis writings, guided by their Swedish friend Pelle, and to witness the Midsommar celebrations from where he grew up. This plot synopsis sucks, so I’ll stop right here. All I can say is, some pretty hinky shit goes down once they get there.
After the gut-punch of seeing Hereditary kinda by chance and its hauntings of me (seriously, that one kinda fucked me up for a bit. Few movies have, upon first watch). Then this one got released. I’m like, yeah, I want some more pudding on my brain, I’ll check this one out. Blind. In the theater. It’s a long one. No beers for that, at least not on first viewing. First full scene sets a pretty damn dark tone, then a strange trip from there. It’s a bit of a slow burn of cultural enlightenments and bad personal relationships. But it is the focused journey of Dani as she comes to grips in a whole new world. The drugs might have helped some in that transition. Just sayin.
This plays out pretty straight, a strangers in a strange land kind of deal. A step back to a different culture. Different norms. Different rituals. The Boyfriend named Christian in a pagan world, interesting play there, well done. This is not an easy movie. There’s some crazy-ass shit going on, with a few brief scenes of fairly shocking explicit gore mixed in. And despite all the sunlight, this is still overall a pretty dark movie, at least thematically, so just be prepared.
