Ari Aster made a big splash in 2018 with the release of HEREDITARY, which was basically ORDINARY PEOPLE gone very, very, VERY bad. Aster’s follow-up, MIDSOMMAR, is basically THE WICKER MAN, Millenial-style, with elements of your basic Rural Slasher thrown in. Now, while we liked HEREDITARY because of just how weird it was, in our opinion it ultimately finished somewhat weaker than it started.
MIDSOMMAR, on the other hand, follows the reverse trajectory. It starts out relatively normal - then gets progressively odder and stranger, until we are squarely in bizarro land up until the final frames. Florence Pugh plays troubled protagonist Dani, a twenty-something grad student whose hunky boyfriend Christian (hunky Jack Reynor) vacillates between inattentive to downright dismissive of her. However, when Dani suffers a terrible family tragedy (and believe us when we say it is terrible) Christian can’t pull the Uncaring Prick routine anymore without looking like, well, an uncaring prick.
Reluctantly, Christian allows Dani to tag along with him and his similarly self-absorbed Bro Pack on a summer back-packing trip to Northern Sweden. They consist of Mark (Will Poulter), Josh (William Jackson Harper), and Pelle (Wilhelm Blomgren). It should be pointed out that this whole trip was Pelle’s idea, who is from the Swedish region the guys will be visiting. Unfortunately, with the exception of Pelle, none of other dudes seem to be crazy about Dani coming along.
Once in rural Sweden, the group find themselves in Pelle’s hometown, surrounded by Shiny Happy People awash in garlands and good cheer. That would have been my first glaring red flag. Alas, no one in the group, which now includes British tourists Connie (Ellora Torchia) and Simon (Archie Madekwe), seems to be perturbed by the weirdos around them. And so they stay. From that point forward, MIDSOMMAR follows some familiar beats as the city-dwellers gradually realize - duh - that things are decidedly less benign than they seem. However, Aster puts fresh spins on the developments so the dread escalates beautifully instead of flatlining as they might under another director.
One reason we prefer MIDSOMMAR over HEREDITARY is that the latter started out very unconventionally - then proceeded to become more and more conventional. By contrast, the former sets the stage for what seems like yet another Young Adults In Mortal Peril Overseas scenario (think TURISTAS, AND SOON THE DARKNESS, HOSTEL, etc.) - but then becomes more and more claustrophobic. Which is saying something because the story unfolds in the golden open spaces washed by the endless Swedish summer sun. Sadly, MIDSOMMAR will likely suffer in comparison to the somewhat overrated HEREDITARY because people may view it as just another slasher movie.
It isn’t. Go see it. It just may put you off traveling outside city limits anywhere.
