Horror Film (2020) Review #2

Midsommar is the second feature length motion picture by writer, director Ari Aster. Similar to Jordan Peele, he too has amassed critical praise and a bonafide audience. Who on the merit of his name, cinephiles and   casual fans will go and flock to see his next venture. According to Aster the film is a sub-genre of folk-horror, which was why there are no subtitles in the dialogue of when characters would speak Swedish to each other, to give the audience the added experience of isolation. To note, when the film was screened in Sweden, the audience laughed, and referred to the film as a black comedy, to which Aster aptly replies was the intention, as it reconciles to being an operatic break-up movie.

To expand on the notion of operatic; similar to Hereditary, this too is a slow burn of a movie, everything you are seeing and experiencing is building up to something, a crescendo of when it will all come together in the final half hour, as the idea of the break-up is firmly planted at the beginning and that the relationship was not going to work out.  Giving a brief look at the trailer, the film is taking place in pure sunlight, there is no darkness, every corner is illuminated.
The Premise, Dani played by up and coming starlet Florence Pugh, has experienced a personal tragedy and emotional trauma, her boyfriend Christian unwillingly invites her to join him and his university friends to Sweden. To visit a fabled once-in-a-lifetime mid-summer festival with deep pagan roots. what was meant as fun a carefree holiday of exploration and cultural learning comes something more bizarre on each passing day of the 9 day event.

This film breaks away from traditional horror films, by avoiding the dark, the unknown, the supernatural, or 'The Monster' as its driving force.  Aster has placed clues on the walls, in both drawings and images throughout the film to help you brace for what is to come. The element of horror is mirrored similar to that of Jordan Peele's Get Out, the township is different and as an outsider you are not going to connect with the people, Peele goes further and plays on what if those fears of an outsider were all true, this film uses the strange traditions and rituals, as a means to keep a divide as the outsiders continue to learn the culture. Like Daniel Kaluuya's character of Chris, he continues to try and be understanding and level headed to everything  he is witnessing and exposed to regardless of how awkward the instances become, that should draw cause for concern.
To give only one insight, a tactic of a cult in which to keep its members tightly together is to smother one with love and make them feel they are loved, with verbiage and echoing sentiments as a means. We see the effectiveness of this transgression at a point in the movie . As with the communal  reach it can have in the context of the movie, which may not be outright spoken out, but it is implied.