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| Credit to A24 |
Midsommar is a slow-paced movie because it takes a while until things actually happening. This is also one of the most beautiful cinematography I've ever seen. The colour palette is off the chart gorgeous! Everything is bright, white, and almost reach to the point that it is calming and relaxing. This is a treat for our eyes. Until it's not.
This is a nightmare in the bright sunlight.
Like Hereditary, this movie also set up with how to cope up with loss and grief. The main character, Dani (Florence Pugh) losses her entire family in a terrible and horrifying homicidal. I don't consider it as a spoiler because it occurs before the movie title, but I'm not gonna talk about it more. This is a set up to the entire movie. Dani has a terrible relationship with his boyfriend, Christian (Jack Reynor) who is no longer in love with her and then the family thing happened. For Dani, everything just falling apart. So, when one of Christian's friends asked them to go to Sweden to visit his family, it looks like a perfect gateway for her.
But I have to say, this movie processes the relationship theme better than its grief theme. I find this movie forgets about the grief theme because it no longer connects to the following events. In term of the relationship, it portrays almost accurate when two people are no longer find the benefit, not necessarily toxic I think, it's just doesn't do any good for both of them and they're trying to find the excuses for it.
Narratively, this movie has a simple story but an elevated presentation. Some scenes are pretentious but overall, this is a psychological horror movie that really works. Like Jordan Peele's Us (2018), I left the theatre with an uneasy feeling. This movie is a disturbing one, no doubt with great performances from the actors. However, the characters in this movie are like objects. We don't have a connection even after the movie ends. They're relatively likeable characters but I don't feel what they feel in this movie. Some of the scenes in this movie have the potential to build up the character development to audience connection, but then it changes in the next scene so strangely that we don't understand what is this person doing.
Hence, movie production is the best. The cut, the score, the audio, the visual, everything is just so perfect! There's one scene in this movie, which also one of my favourite scenes in terms of cinematography when people are dancing in the circle and the music is faded then back to normal again and then faded again, following the eye movements of the lead character, I think that's so gorgeous! And then when everybody sits on the dining table, ready to eat, the camera shots from above and it shows everyone on the frame. The way they take their cutlery is like a domino effect. Start from one person and spread out to everybody in a synchronized movement. So gorgeous!
Overall, I like this movie. I can't wait to watch the uncut version of this movie even the director's cut! Yes, this movie has so many violence and gore scenes and those forced me to close my eyes tightly, but I love Ari Aster's work, so yeah.
What do you think about this movie?
Love, Vera
