Midsommar (Director's Cut) Is Better Than The Theatrical Version

Rating: Null/10 (31 October 2019)

The following is the review of Midsommar (Director's Cut).
After terrifying everyone with his ominous directorial debut, easily amongst the scariest films of the decade, Ari Aster returned with an original & audacious folk horror about grief, trauma, family, toxic relationships & paganism. And although his second film wasn't as nerve-rattling as his first, it was still a very uncomfortable, unsettling & unnerving horror that established him as one of the boldest new filmmakers out there.
However, it is only after watching Midsommar restored with all the segments that were edited out to improve the film's commercial value does one realise the real masterpiece that Ari Aster's sophomore feature is. Clocking at 171 minutes, the director's cut doesn't modify the plot structure but instead provides additional richness & cohesiveness to the story that makes the overall experience far more fulfilling & complete.
While there are a couple extended scenes here that the film was better without, most of the new sequences add considerable weight & emotional wallop to Dani & Christian's relationship conflict, thus making the finale much more cathartic & satisfying. Add to that, an additional ritual of the HÃ¥rga festival featured in this latest cut also provides a closure to the final fate of a character who mysteriously disappeared.
Sewing new threads into an existing fabric in a manner that enriches the texture & quality of the whole tapestry by a considerable extent, Midsommar (Director's Cut) is a definite improvement in every conceivable way, and should be the only version available to viewers. Its almost 3-hour long runtime may seem daunting but the narrative flow & pacing feels much smoother & breezier, and expertly ties up all the loose ends.
In short, Midsommar (Director's Cut) is an undeniably better, darker, powerful, haunting & rewarding picture than the theatrical version, and is Ari Aster's folk horror in its true, original & undiluted form. Strongly recommended.