Midsommar Review: What The Fuck Did I Just Watch?

What in the fuck did we just watch?

I can only imagine this is what theater goers across the nation were saying to themselves walking out of Ari Aster’s “Midsommar”

After being struck with an unfathomable amount of grief in the midst of a less-than-stellar relationship, Dani heads to Sweden for Midsommar with her boyfriend Christian, his friends, and the mysterious Swedish exchange student putting on the entire trip. Upon arriving, the group takes part in a co-op mushroom trip, setting the uneasiness factor for the rest of the festivities. After this, the group hikes to the festival grounds (if you can call it that). While getting acclimated to the extremely odd circumstances of Midsommar, the group begins to look into the history of the once-every-ninety-years festival, seeing that this is unlike anything they’ve ever seen before. I cannot explain any further without spoiling the film. What I can say however is that from this point on, Midsommar continues to drive the audience to unspeakable lengths of uneasiness. 

First thing’s first, I absolutely HATE horror films and the typical tropes of only taking place at night, and including jump scares left and right. Midsommar is anything but that. The minute the film starts, there is a sense of impending doom. We see one of our main characters, Dani, dealing with a very difficult emotional situation (details omitted to avoid spoilers). This film is quick to make the audience wince in disgust and discomfort, somewhere around the 5-7 minute I’d assume. One of the many great aspects of Midsommar however is the ability to still be horrifying without relying on bullshit jump scares. As a matter of fact, calling this film “scary” in a general sense would be a huge insult to the film. Instead, Midsommar seems to send chills up your spine by utilizing the trademark Ari Aster cocktail of visuals, editing, and sound design. 

In Ari Aster’s previous film, Hereditary, conversations were shown taking place in a confined space, as if the audience was watching the scene as a play. In some of the first conversational scenes in Midsommar, we see the entire scene play out with one of our characters standing in the foreground of the shot, while the opposing side of the conversation is seen only in the reflection of a cleverly placed mirror. This either acts as a metaphor for a characters self reflection, or a metaphor of the emotional/mental distance between the two characters. 

(SPOILERS BELOW THIS LINE)

Later, when the group begins to take hallucinogens upon their arrival, you’ll notice the entire landscape begin to distort, giving off the feeling that the landscape is breathing, much like an actual drug-induced hallucination (don’t ask us how we know this). This is one of the many visual aspects that contribute to the immersive nature of the film.

(END SPOILER)

Throughout the film, there appeared to be a strong sense of comradery in the theater, especially while leaving. By the end of the film, the majority of the audience seemed to look to their left and right, letting out a light uncomfortable chuckle and began chatting to others in the theater as they all left. We at Good Grief Media, HIGHLY suggest Midsommar.

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