Know Nothing

Rating: 8/10 (15 December 2019)

Midsommar is an ambitious film, I watched the cut version and it shows in the editing that various scenes are missing, especially in the beginning, but considering it still runs into 2 Â½ hours I won't hold it against anyone.
Firstly, the film suffers from the typical horror movie failing where the viewer can't explain why the characters don't realise something is incredibly wrong and they should probably do something about it, but on further reflection one could say the same about everyday people with bad habits, toxic relationships, and delusions, so I guess horror movie characters are no different.
The film clearly draws from Wicker Man, anyone and everyone who has seen the two can't help but notice this fact and one can't help but wonder if there was not some way to avoid the over-similarity, but it's hard to say exactly how.
As my last criticism I must stress there is a major dearth of restraint in this film, there are many good ideas but there are many bad ones (choosing by lottery balls being the worst, and the and the co-existence of the two really detract from the high points. This isn't a failing of cinematic editing, it's a failing of writerly editing, and it is built into the film at the roots, which is sad considering just how great the best parts of this film are.
The scene which shocks is of course the thing which sticks in the mind but aside from the religious views of the participants it's not that unique, plenty of skull-crushing happens in horror, though the responses of the Brits as the villagers look on in silence really hammers home how alien it all is.
The constant sunlight is enveloping and adds to the timelessness, the spacelessness, this story happens during a season, not on a specific year or particular country. The constant use of hallucinogenic mushrooms and various herbal drugs robs the viewer of any certainty at how much is real, surely people are dying, but are they really dying as they seem to be, is the wave of decadent blooms, the laughter of strangers, is this hallucination? We're never quite sure.
What I love though are the later scenes, as the girl becomes drawn into their world, inexplicably speaking swedish, her crown bustling with life, the flora growing over everything, the juxtaposition of beauty, death, growth and decay. The boy knows less and less of what is happening, he's scared and confused, and when drawn into the place he gets some his basic nature takes over even as his higher cognitive functions clearly remain obscured.
When the girl witnesses his betrayal, which she not only expects, but almost wills into existence, then she grieves, and her retinue grieve with her, and there is a real sense of the sharing of grief not only making the process easy for her, but more intense, it is paradoxical and palpable, and with a little restraint, it could have been a profound beautiful moment in cinema.
Likewise, as the girl becomes the queen of may she assimilates the mixed feelings, the harsh hunger that followed spring, the weariness of countless days in the dark and cold followed by unending light, the hope and jubilation of a year coming into it's most joyous point beside physical pain.
Then in the final scene the girl smiles, it is a knowing smile, and there is a sense of horrific, beautiful necessity to the agony of people burning alive. It's a shame the guy is inside a bear.
This film is much like the flowers, abundant, lovely, overaabundant, overlovely, and in desperate need of pruning.