A Summer Getaway Turns Into a Nightmare

Jack Reynor and Florence Pugh in "Midsommar"
Photo Credit: Imdb.com

Last year, writer-director Ari Aster not only delivered the best horror movie of the year, but one of the best movies of the year with his feature directorial debut, “Hereditary.”  With the talent he was able to assemble in front of and behind the camera, Aster made a grand and unforgettable entrance with a film that was impossible to forget once it ended.  The horror genre found one of its next great visionaries, and it was just a matter of time before he returned for his second feature.

His latest endeavor, a folk-horror film called “Midsommar,” further establishes him as a master of horror, despite this only being his second full-length feature.  Here, he creates a scary, hallucinatory experience that offers a lot to unpack once it’s over.

Dani Ardor (Florence Pugh) is dealing with a family tragedy, which puts a strain on her already-rocky relationship with her boyfriend, Christian (Jack Reynor).  When he and his friends, Josh (William Jackson Harper), Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren), and Mark (Will Poulter), decide to take a take a trip to a commune in Sweden for its midsummer celebration, which takes place every 90 years, Christian invites Dani after she finds out about it.  While their hosts seem pleasant at first, the days that follow will reveal the deeper and disturbing truths behind the festivities.

Pugh provides a visceral performance as a young woman overcome with grief.  Right from the beginning, her character is dealing with family issues, and Pugh delivers the emotional burden of her scenario, even when it has to be understated when trying to shield her troubles from Christian.  There’s a sense of loneliness that Pugh exhibits as her character remains distant from Christian and his friends, bringing us into the storm clouds wrapped around her head as she tries to acclimate herself into the group, but still feels a disconnection.  As you see Dani interact with the commune throughout the movie, Pugh portrays her character in such a way that keeps us guessing as to where she will be, psychologically, at the conclusion of the film, which is the main factor that grips you throughout this journey of increasing dread.

Just like with “Hereditary,” Aster’s screenplay focuses on his main character who’s buried in sorrow.  However, the circumstances of the plot allow for him to approach the subject from a different angle.  It explores Dani’s psyche as she seems to descend further down a black hole of madness, inviting you to see how this new and strange environment will impact her mental state the longer she stays there. 

With nearly a two-and-a-half-hour runtime, this movie has a lot of ground to cover, both before and during the trip in Sweden.  Plenty of time is spent in the beginning of the story to allow us to get to know Dani, the questionable relationship between her and Christian, and how she attempts to interact with others who see her as a burden.  All of this helps you become invested in her wellbeing and sympathize with her when no one else seems like they will.

Once we arrive at the commune, we’re given a full view into the traditions of its inhabitants.  While the hosts seem harmless at the beginning, Aster soon throws us into the upsetting reality of the meaning behind them and their customs, and we’re left wondering what sinister motives will be revealed as the film goes on.  Aster creates a community that’s fully realized in the narrative, providing an endless stream of details as we’re introduced to more and more facets of the commune’s lifestyle.

Aster re-teams with his “Hereditary” cinematographer, Pawel Pogorzelski, to switch from the terrifying use of darkness in that film to utilizing excessive summer sunlight to emphasize the details of the commune and show that the dangers of this community are present under the false protection of day.

The camerawork takes on a wavy quality in certain scenes that provide a psychedelic effect and make you feel trapped within the disorienting environment of the commune, making it seem like you can’t escape the hold that the inhabitants have on their visitors.  These sequences give you a disquieting sensation of being imprisoned in an unstable state of mind, lost in your surroundings, and not knowing what will happen to you.

In the first half hour of the film, Pogorzelski’s camerawork has a couple of instances of mirrors being used during conversations.  The first is where Dani is talking with Christian, where we see her actual self and a reflection of Christian in a mirror next her.  The second is where Dani visits Christian and his friends in one of their homes, and we see Dani’s reflection in a mirror and Christian and his friends’ actual selves as they’re talking with her.  It’s an effective way to highlight the detachment between them and Dani, furthering our realization of how isolated she feels when she’s among them.

The production design by Henrik Svensson focuses a lot on paintings, whether they’re those that are hanging on the walls of Dani’s apartment, or wall paintings at the commune.  It’s important for the viewer to pay attention to these paintings because they leave many clues as to what will happen in the film.  These are pieces to a complicated puzzle that have a storybook quality to their designs, but hold mysterious and disturbing implications.

Even with a lengthily runtime, Aster shows an ability to have every scene feel necessary, and he knows that this story needs enough time to have us absorb all of the details of the characters and commune.  Through it all, he continues to show a stunning talent for using his cast, camerawork, editing, set design, and sound to maximum effect and delivers another uncompromising vision of horror and raw emotion.

With just two feature-length films, Aster proves that he’s someone who can enliven the horror genre with something that will leave you shaken, and if his next movie is anything like “Midsommar” and “Hereditary,” it’ll be something that you won’t want to miss.

Grade: A