Rich in ideas, yet poor in emotional magnitude, Ari Aster is back again in a recommended interesting horror/drama experiment

Rating: 7/10 (7 July 2019)

Midsommar, directed and written by Ari Aster, is his second project after the horrifying terrific "Hereditary". It's set by a familiar nightmarish thematic that builds itself by distortion of time and place, igniting by an unbearable life-shifting trauma while shaping itself by an expressionistic strategy aided by stunning cinematography and camera tricks, and performed brilliantly in a simple and natural quality that enhances the sense of truthfulness to its alien environment. By the first 10 minutes of the first act of this slowly paced horror experiment, it becomes clear that Aster is highly interested in portraying the psychological manifestation of trauma, mental illness, internal and external conflicts, along with family and relationships dynamics. What stands different in Midsommar is the expansion of ideas and symbolism in what produces a byproduct eclipse of character definition and therefore the emotional investment in the story arc.
Midsommar tells the story of 5 college students taking a trip suggested by their friend to Sweden, particularly to a small distant and almost out of the world village where a small community lives by rituals that are uniquely creepy and bizarre. This cult's core belief dwell on unifying with nature and land; it worships fertility and attempts to maintain an inhuman level of harmony. It has reshaped the concept of family and used past traumas as fuel to their non-stopping efforts to what seems as deep struggles to forsake all pain of grief, the fear of loss, and the inevitability of aging and death. Aster conveniently used the summer of a distant village in Sweden to obscure the familiar rhythm of night and day, and uniquely filmed a horror movie in unending light. Also, he forbade the setting of any privacy by filming in an open field that is filled with all kinds of unintroduced villagers that never stop performing different and simultaneous rituals. Thus, Midsommar is theatrical, unsettling, with an inevitable sense of distance from the story and its inhabitants.
There is a clear mockery of remoteness between different cultures as well as a deconstruction of all forced efforts of inclusion. The arc also plays on different notes of relationship dynamics, alienation, and existentialism. Aster fixated on these ideas and how expressionism will magnify the creepiness of the story, but by doing that I believe he injected too many unto too simple and maybe even absent character arcs. This is evident by Aster's elimination of half the characters abruptly so it would be easier for the viewer to fixate on the two only main characters that are relatively better defined. However, the setting denied any sense of privacy and was constantly filled with too many people, therefor Aster's efforts to maintain the connection with the main character fell flat for me, and this would become obvious with a quick comparison with Hereditary's mother, father, and son who are the sole characters in their small indoor setting that made the experience personal, relatable, and much scarier.
Despite the shortcomings of Midsommar, its intentions were high and lots of its missions are achieved. It is an interesting horror/drama movie that very well deserves to be experienced and proves that Ari Aster is innovative, has big ideas, understands how camera works and what it can convey, and definitely can be considered as one of the most important directors of this genre that is -thankfully to his and few others' recent efforts- redefining itself to be an interesting vessel to exciting and rich films.