Leaves the audience quietly sweating in their seats

Rating: 8/10 (3 July 2019)

Psychologically-fragile American college student Dani attends a celebratory midsommar festival in northern Sweden with her graduate student boyfriend, Christian, and his cohorts Josh and Mark. They are invited by Pelle, an exchange student who was raised in an isolated commune there; he explains the celebration occurs only once every ninety years. The festivities are initially harmless, but soon ramp up to disturbing proportions.
Ari Aster's follow-up to "Hereditary," "Midsommar" marks a significant tonal shift for the director, but it is in truth a much more aesthetically rich film. Thematically, it is less dense, but the film heaps on hallucinogenic visuals in a manner that leaves the audience feeling as intoxicated as its chemically-induced characters.
When the film hits, it hits hard, and its only real downfall is that it fails to reach a true fever pitch, despite appearing to be heading in that direction. Instead, the dread slowly builds as the film plods toward its dour conclusion. Fans of the classic "The Wicker Man" will see plenty in common with this film, and it stands as an obvious reference point for Aster. Part of the film's failure to reach a fever pitch may be due to the relatively unclear motivations of the protagonist, specifically in the final act; while it's clear why she makes the decisions she does, the emotional groundwork for them feels underserved, resulting in a finale that seems slightly shallow.
Despite this downfall, Aster manages to present a lush and intoxicating film that induces dread in a manner that is oppressive and subtly terrifying, leaving the audience quietly sweating in their seats. 8/10.