Meandering is right

Rating: 5/10 (15 March 2020)

MIDSOMMAR is the latest film from arthouse director Ari Aster, whose HEREDITARY wowed audiences a few years ago. While I liked that film I didn't love it, but I do love folk horror and THE WICKER MAN so I expected a lot from this one. Sadly, I didn't get it. MIDSOMMAR is a real mixed bag of a movie, with a decent first half. Florence Pugh gives a fine performance and the opening sequence is particularly powerful, getting off to a good footing. The slow-burning suspense works effectively until the genuine shocks of the 'cliff' sequence, but after this things really stop working. There's the usual sex and violent content, but it all feels very meandering and dragged out, saddled with unlikeable characters and a genuine lack of meaning and narrative cohesion. The cinematography is great and the actors certainly do their best, but by the end I felt this had become predictable, random (Viking execution methods for shock value, etc.) and a bit like a boring slasher film.