An overdrawn trip...

Rating: 3/10 (4 November 2019)

I'm going to start by saying I have only just recently seen Midsommar over this past weekend for our annual horror/fright film night.
Thinking this would be a decent follow on film from Ari Aster after Hereditary, I honestly thought this would be a good choice for us as I had seen some reviews and heard through the grapevine that Midsommar was an "interesting" film.
I've now seen the film twice in the period of 48 hours, so I feel that I can give a more proactive review, rather than a knee jerk reactive review...
Screw it, I can't be proactive with Midsommar. Even after watching this beautifully shot film twice in 48 hours, I cannot fathom how people can enjoy the slow burning pain that is Midsommar.
The first viewing, I felt the first 10 minutes were solid and I recognised the Ari Aster visuals from Hereditary were in abundance, alongside the moody score, dark stabs and twisted harmonies. I was sold at this point. But how wrong I was 10 minutes after.
Enter cliche Wickerman/Rosemary's Baby storylines.
Hereditary had it's problems, there is no denying that, but Midsommar is just full pretentious writing and art driven spoiler mosaics tied neatly between the opening segment and the end credits.
Midsommar tries to be Wickerman, but it falls flat on its face. It tries to be Rosemary's Baby but doesn't have the character strength to compete. And finally, it tries to be an undertoned slasher but doesn't have the right narrative when it's trying to be both the formers.
I cannot stress enough how annoyed I was when some people in the room who were watching Midsommar with us said how "atmospheric" it was. To that, I can only respond that it is indeed atmospheric (thanks to the score), but Ari Aster has no right to feed me a self indulged, overly drawn out pantomime passion project that you literally see coming on a washing line.
I then watched Midsommar again without a room full of people, and I felt angrier for doing so. 5 hours of my life gone.
The score and cinematography is beautiful, it really is, but its lying alongside a steaming mess of writing and narrative that's been done before, and done better.
If you haven't seen either Hereditary or Midsommar...go with Hereditary. You'll be glad you did, and I hope I would have saved your own time.