Come brother, step under the midnight sun...

Rating: 9/10 (31 October 2019)

All I can say about this movie is: this was amazing.
I went into this movie with rather high expectations. Afterall I heard good things about it prior to watching it, and it was done by the same director as last year's Hereditary, and let me tell you - it did not dissapoint! Quite the oposite in fact - it not only meet my expectations, but exceeded them. Ari Aster is becoming one of my favourite horror directors in modern cinema, and alongside Jordan Peele (Us, Get Out), is giving me the feeling that the future of horror is in good hands.
But back to Midsommar. What to say? The movie is beautifully shot and realy stunning to look at. The locations, the costumes and the colorfulness of shots are realy a wellcome sight, specialy after countless horror movies of last decade that seem to use the same annoying and generic blue/gray filters and mute any color on screen. This movie is not that. In fact it is the opposite of that - everything is so bright and vibrant, and what adds even more to this is the fact that everything happens in broad daylight. Even the horrible stuff. And this is the key - it provides contrast between idilic pagan life on one side, and disturbing rituals on the other. It realy plays well with the plot and makes the horrific scenes even more horrific. And horrific they are, because the camera does not shy away from disturbing and gory scenes.
About this subject, I would say the movie is known for being one of more disturbing entries in recent years, but in my opinion the on screen violence, while there, isn't the main reason for this. Rather I would say it is the whole atmosphere that the cinematography and actors create that gives the disturbing feeling. So I would say, if film's (disturbing) reputation gives you second taughts about watching it .... do not listen to them, and don't sell yoursef short for one of most amazing moviegoing experiences in recent years! There is also one lenghty nude sceen (but non explicit) which manages to be erotic and uncomfortable to watch at the same time. And probably gives of the same feeling Cristian would have in that situation.
The movie is quite long and the pacing is slow, at the beginning, but it realy uses this time well to build up the atmosphere, and once it picks up it realy gets going. In this respect it is similar to what Hereditary did, but it is not that slow, and in my opinion does it better.
Acting was good overall. I especially liked the main protagonist, Dani, played by Florence Pugh, who I don't realy know that much as I haven't seen any of her movies yet. I also liked Josh, played by William Jackson Harper who I also taught did a great job in this. Out of the group, it is his character that I identified the most. On the other hand I relaly grow to dislike Cristian, Dani's boyfriend through the course of the movie, which was afterall the intent.
I won't spoil the plot, as I think I said everything and then some, so needless to say I highly recomend this one. Don't let the rumors of disturbing scenes or slow plot scare you, and treat yourself to not only great horror movie, but to a great movie period. 9/10 from me.