Intense, artistic and different

Rating: 8/10 (9 October 2019)

Midsommar, or Midsummer.. the Summer Solstice that has been celebrated by people for over 2000 years and it's still practiced in many countries. Like other celebrations of the seasons, of nature, of change. Did the film capture this? Only to little extent. After all, it's a movie, and like most horror movies, they need to "embellish" things to attract the public that seeks for mystery and horror and rituals and everything evil in something they don't understand, especially common Americans who don't know these traditions since they are of European origin.
Some argued that this is not authentic from an ethnological perspective and that it tries to copy the classic Wicker Man from 1973. We must remember that this is a movie, and not a documentary.
HOWEVER... the movie itself is very, very well made. The acting is decent to good, the scenes are carefully made. Unlike most horror movies we have nowadays, this is not your usual jump-scare movie. It's a movie that unites truth with imagination, a movie that doesn't even need creepy atmosphere, dark scenes in the middle of the night, monsters or spirits or anything like that... Its charm is based on shocking experiences lived by a girl who gradually becomes mentally unstable due to the shocks, heartbreak and use of drugs, ending with a holiday that eventually destroys her. Its based on a gradual degradation of mental and emotional state, finally destroyed by something that is not understood (strange and unusual traditions, foreign land)... until it shows its face.
It was debated on the internet that the girl's attitude towards her boyfriend's death is unusual, but the explanation is simple. The girl was traumatized, she took drugs and was drugged by others (drugs and trauma don't make a good pair) and she eventually loses her sanity. Her mental state is deteriorated since the beginning of the movie. After all the traumatic events she goes through until the end, the conclusion is that she lost the sense of reality and lost her sanity, thus we can explain the smile at the end of the movie. Although she loved her boyfriend, she saw him reserved towards her needs, she sees him attracted by another woman, so she begins to blame him for her suffering as well, so if she suffers he must also suffer. It's a psychological horror.
The movie itself is intense from beginning to the end, but the intensity grows more and more as you watch it and events take place. The use of rituals, unknown traditions and symbolism, pagan cults, psychedelics, mental breakdowns is a perfect blend.
I consider this to be a very good movie, even if, like most movies, tries to destroy beautiful ancient traditions from our European ancestors. After all, people want entertainment, not knowledge. So from an entertainment perspective, this is perfect.