Midsommar Delivers

Rating: 9/10 (28 July 2019)

I have to admit I didn't like "Hereditary" at all, in part because it was w-a-y overhyped by A24, so I wasn't waiting with bated breath for Ari Aster's next film. Even the preview for "Midsommar" was underwhelming. Similar to "Hereditary", there was this really creepy-looking character who we'd be led to be believe was the key to everything, but who most likely would have little to do with the plot development. (In fairness, he actually did play a role by foreshadowing through his art what was to come, but otherwise, his only purpose seemed to be to just look weird.) And like such recent hybrids as "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" or "Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter", this film looked from its preview like "The People's Temple Remakes Wicker Man while Performing The Sound of Music". But I was jonesing for a horror flick and thought I'd give "Midsommar" a try, and I'm so glad I did.
One thing I have to give Aster props for is his visually arresting opening scenes. In Hereditary, there was the doll house expanding into a very similar full-sized house with a flesh-and-blood family. "Midsommar" opens with shots of a pristine and tranquil countryside abruptly punctuated by the tragic here and now. In fact, this entire film is so visually stunning and audibly seductive I was immediately drawn in.
Another plus for "Midsommar" is that I was able to emotionally connect to the two main characters, Dani and her boyfriend Christian. Dani has long been dealing with the ups and downs of a mentally disturbed sister whom she loves and is now reeling from the loss of her entire family through a murder-suicide. Christian seems to care about Dani but finds her family drama and emotional neediness wearing. He's ready to move on but can't bring himself to leave Dani in such a vulnerable state.
The other characters play minor roles but respond to circumstances in believable and sometimes humorous ways. The scene where the newly arrive guests trip out on hallucinogens is a hoot.
I also liked that, unlike most horror movies that rely on darkness, stormy nights and the like, the events in "Midsommar" unfolded like a rural idyll bathed in mostly dazzling sunshine.
When Dani learns that Christian is planning a trip to Sweden with his male friends, she guilt trips him into letting her come along, and this is where the drama begins.
The group plans to stay as guests of Pelle, a friend of Christian's, who became orphaned after the loss of his parents and who was taken in by a pagan cult called the Hargas. As the students learn the strange ways of the cult, they're horrified by some of the brutality they witness and become increasingly unnerved by the disappearance of a number of visitors.
One of the horrors they witness is the suicide of an elderly couple who have reached their terminal age according to their tradition. In typical Aster fashion, their death is spectacular and over-the-top gruesome. As brutal as it was, this scene was breathtaking in its visuals, touching in its solemnity, as well as engrossing in the dramatic stillness waiting to see what was going to transpire. Interestingly, although Dani was the vulnerable and traumatized one, she was the only one in her group who didn't turn away from the spectacle in shock and disgust.
Another highly disturbing scene is where Christian is chosen to mate with a girl in the community named Maya and apparently given some kind of aphrodisiac (as well as some tampered food and drink that would have sent me to the nearest McDonalds) to aid in the coupling. In spite of the full frontal nudity, this had to be the most non-sexual sex scene I'd ever seen. As in everything else in this strange community, it "takes a village" to consummate the act. The hapless Christian seems more driven by biological compulsion than any titillation, and more bewildered by the women than engaged with his partner. However, as strange and creepy as it was, there was just something haunting about it too.
Oddly, with each successive horror, and as Dani's relationship with Christian falls totally apart, Dani begins to lose her dependency on Christian, become empowered, and realize the Hargas as her new family. When Dani catches Christian cheating on her and finally falls apart, the Harga women share in her pain in a very moving way. They tend to communicate a lot through gestures and glances (called "affekt") mimicry, and also through chanting and singing which, I have to admit, was eerily beautiful.
The final scene left me up in the air as to whether the evolution of Dani was a good or bad thing, though I suppose it could have been symbolic of catharsis and putting to death the old and embracing the new.
At any rate, with more films like this, I see a very bright future for Ari Aster.