Pretty strange film, but this is exactly what made it worth watching

Rating: 6/10 (20 June 2020)

After about five very prolific years of making short films, writer and director Ari Aster made his first full feature film not too long ago and "Hereditary" was a huge success. Now here we have his second full feature movie and while the first had major supernatural horror elements, this one here does not. Or well, it does in the minds of many characters and their deeds to serve their highers, but this is of course just theoretical. It is a horror film, however, there is no denying. Even when we are not yet in Sweden, the circumstances of the female protagonist's sister's death are as dubious as it gets and there is also a shockingly graphic image of that. But the vast majority of the film is set in Sweden, so it should be no surprise to anybody that this is a Swedish co-production and that there are many Swedish cast members, especially with this title. It's probably most effective to watch this film on a really hot summer day outside, but I only got half of that last night when I watched it as my second post-Corona movie at a(n outdoor) cinema. The weather was not so nice the way it was a few days earlier. But it's alright. By the way, this is a really, really long film at almost 2.5 hours and the one big name attached to this project is Florence Pugh. Well, the biggest name I should say. 2019 was an amazing year for her scoring her first Oscar nomination for "Little Women" and actually I am a bit surprised to see her in this film here. I would have imagined Alicia Vikander or so. Anyway, I think she does a fine job and she is also pretty stunning fur sure. I am growing into a bit of a fan I think. Also really liked her on "Little Women" and she was maybe the best thing there. But back to this film. The only other cast member I am familiar with here is Will Poulter and he is always easy to identify. I remember him very well from Bigelow's "Detroit" and he was amazing there, so I hope his career will rise in the coming years. His character here feels almost a bit too small given the actor's talent. He is mostly in it for comedic reasons. Be it his comments when everybody is stoned, how he regrets having missed some of the action, how he is delighted to be led away by the Swedish girl (while he has no clue what's waiting for him) or of course how he pees against that ancient tree trunk. His normal simple man character you could say went very much against conventions, especially in that secret society there. He was a riot at times. I must say nonetheless that I had no clue what eventually happened to him. It was him smacking down the Black dude when the latter went for the bible right? Was he also under some special drug? He was alive still in any case. Well, somewhat alive. These drugs are a big thing in this movie and the joints the group is smoking early on are definitely as harmless as it gets with what else is waiting for them later on. Just take a look at the protagonist's boyfriend near the end and the drink he is offered and reluctantly drinks and then this sex orgy starts. Now that was maybe the most bizarre moment of the entire movie. Not the act per se as you could see that coming with how the ginger girl is mentioned several times (although I did not think that it could be her pube there), but all the other women in this specific scene and how they interact with the girl (the weird singing next to her head) and also how the old lady slaps the dude's butt. What the heck? And of course, how ginger girl says right away she can feel the baby. So yeah, like I said it's all the awkward, bizarre and weird elements from this movie that turn it into something slightly fascinating. Not always fascinating as you can see from my rating.
Another example would be the comment about how all the tribe's (let's call them that) oracles are the result of inbreeding. Very messed up. This specific scene shows nonetheless that while they try to seem harmless to others, it is all part of a plan. At the exact same time, we have a member of the tribe tell the American characters that there is no coordinated big-scale inbreeding. So things are clearly not even close to what they seem here. It reminded me a bit of "Get Out" in terms of the overall scenario. And the characters here sure needed to get out as well. Also how two characters have the intention to write their thesis on this tribe and the elders reluctantly agree under certain conditions, but they only did so to keep the guys there because they knew they will probably never get out to release their thesis or tell anybody about this tribe. As for Christian (played by Jack Reynor), Pugh's character's boyfriend, I always somehow felt he could also be in on the entire project that there is something evil going on, especially how he reacted to the double suicide ritual (man, some nasty shots there from Aster, definitely nothing for young audiences), but looking at what happened to him at the end, he probably wasn't in at all. The only one really in on everything was the Swedish buddy who led them there and his talking to Pugh's character especially already implied that maybe he appreciated her more than he should have. It's alright though. I still wonder why. I mean he could not know that she would become the new May Queen. Probably he was just very keen on having outsiders there, so the tribe can do with them whatever they want. Okay, what else can I say about this movie. It is horrifying at times, funny during other sequences, very dark humor, but maybe the area where it delivers the most is the visual side. The costumes (especially the queen's massive flower dress we see at the end, she basically becomes a flower herself) are as spectacular as the cinematography and you could feel the burning light and heat very well through the screen here, almost like a knife cutting through and blinding you if we go with metaphors. This was very well done. And of course the make-up and sets as well. Nothing wrong there at all. So the only aspect where it did come a bit short (just a bit, not too much) is the script. I think they could have cut 30-45 minutes here and it still would have been a decent film for sure, even if it definitely did not drag too much. But there are scenes and sequences that feel like filler material. As I am approaching the end of my review, I also want to talk about the end of the movie, especially the scene when Pugh's character is really having her meltdown and the others there are screaming with her, basically following their new queen. Joining in with her. I also felt somehow that maybe she could get sacrificed, but she did not. She will have to wait till she gets 72 for that I suppose. Long way to go. That cut-throat gesture when the Swedish buddy was asked was also pretty good, pretty creepy too. And with Pugh in the end, her smile somewhat implied that her sanity was gone now too completely, even if the fact that she agreed that her boyfriend should be killed still felt more like an act of mercy than an act of cruelty or insanity with what they had done to him. This killing scene also explains the bear we see early on and that one was also very random and, as a consequence, very comedic. So yeah, I think I am in the minority here, but I liked this film more than "Hereditary", so this shows you that I am not as much of a fan when it comes to the latter as everybody else. I am still curious what Aster has coming up next. And in the future. The talent is undeniable. I hope he can continue this positive trend and make more good films. This one here is by no means perfect, but I give it a thumbs-up and positive recommendation. Never in doubt, but like I said: Don't watch it with kids or people who can't deal with graphic violence.