Midsommar

in preparation for Beau is Afraid, I decided to watch Midsommar as I had already rewatched Hereditary within the last year Midsommar is proof that broad daylight can be just as scary as pitch darkness, there are so many films in which people try and search for a societal divide that doesn't exist within the story - Midsommar is one of the only films that not only portrays societal divide authentically but also leaves no room for empathising or antagonising either side of the coin As is pointed out during a pivotal and outwardly horrific moment in the film, the traditions that the Harga see as regular custom are horrific to outsiders, inversely, the traditions that westernised folk see as regular custom are seen as derogatory by the Harga - this example of the "elevated horror' concept that was birthed around this film creates an interesting argument around the criminality of the Harga's actions throughout the film Ari Aster is one of the most impressively symbolic filmmakers working today, each shot is full of minute details that could only be picked up on multiple watches - much of Aster's cinematography centres around both metaphor and visual storytelling, shots in which the most narcissistic character of the film eclipses the only source of light while his peers are shrouded in his shadow is just a small example of Midsommar's metaphorical brilliance, whereas background shrubbery depicting suicide is a taste of its visual cleverness the gore in Midsommar is frequent enough to define the genre while simultaneously spaced out enough in order to not make it the defining g factor of the film itself - the accurately portrayed drug trip sequences are always terrifying even when it seems like they shouldn't be which makes any instances of extreme violence feel like enough of a separation that it is still impactful both within and independently of the film the score for this movie is awesome - it starts out subtle and by the end reaches awesome crescendos as the climax of the film hits Florence Pugh gave it her all in this film and it shows - Ari Aster specialises in real gut wrenching grief and sadness which Florence is able to portray seemingly with ease In my own view, I think that Dani is indeed a victim of a pretty shit hand and to that effect Christian is a far from favourable companion or person in general - however, I don't think Danis's final actions towards Christian should be celebrated, Christian went through hell in the final half hour of the film which makes his fate seem incredibly unjustified - while he is an arrogant and gaslighting (no pun intended) partner to Dani, he is also by the end of the film a forcefully inebriated rape victim, this should speak volumes about the moral complications of the Harga which is something that makes Midsommar more and more interesting Watching both Midsommar and Hereditary has made me incredibly excited for Beau is Afraid - with Joaquin being my favourite actor and Ari Aster being one of my favourite directors, I am becoming more and more enthusiastic if slightly apprehensive for this pairing as for Midsommar on its own, I loved this film and will certainly be revisiting it again in the future - go and watch it, its on Netflix, there's no excuse