Since I'm swedish I found this really funny and absurd, the wierd traditions were obviously inspired from The Wickerman more than the actual swedish tradition, Midsommar. I'm also really glad I watched it in my home and not at the cinema with other people, because there were scenes I laughed at and I didn't want to laugh at scenes with others, becuase it wasn't really funny. I coudn't help laughing, but at the same time feel really uncomfortable. I enjoyed this movie a lot, every scene made me intrigued and dumbfounded. Sry about the spelling and what not, first rating an all.

'Midsommar' (2019)

Opening thoughts: It took me a long time to get round to watching 'Midsommar', due to not having time or the opportunity to watch it easily. Have always appreciated the genre it fits in, where there are many great films, and Florence Pugh showed a lot of promise seeing her for the first time in 'Little Women'. That it was also directed by the director responsible for the very good 'Hereditary' intrigued me too. The premise was one of those could have gone either way ones, it was advertised bizarrely and the critical reception was very polarising, particularly from those that didn't like it.

After seeing 'Midsommar', count me in as somebody who didn't care for it. It is not an awful film and there are things done right, including an intriguing start, but the second half was a bizarre and tedious mess, so this viewer is this case more understanding of those who didn't like the film than liked. This has absolutely nothing to do with not understanding what 'Midsommar' was going to be or going for, quite the opposite, the issue is that it doesn't achieve its aims very well at all.

Good things: 'Midsommar' does have good things. It is a very well made film visually, with photography that is both dreamlike and nightmarish in all the necessary places. The scenery is also absolutely beautiful, while also with a suitably ominous atmosphere. Did think too that the film started off well, with an unsettling opening that was creepy and suspenseful. The sacrifice scene was similarly suitably horrifying, with it being the scariest (and goriest) the film got.

Regarding the acting, to me it was quite good considering what was given to them (which actually come to think of it wasn't much). Pugh anchors the film beautifully in a compellingly tortured lead performance.

Bad things: However, there are also a lot of drawbacks. Most of the characters are incredibly thinly sketched and behave annoyingly and/or illogically. Pugh has the only character that has any development or who is interesting. Some friends thought that Will Poulter's character had the most personality, to me actually he was annoying and his presence jarred with the rest of the atmosphere. The direction did have some slickness but got very slack and muddled later on the more weird the second half became.

The script has nothing memorable, is very stilted and can fall into self-indulgence. The story and pacing are the weakest aspects of 'Midsommar'. The story starts off with great atmosphere and intrigue, but post the sacrifice scene any creepiness and sense of horror pretty much completely goes. Meaning that the second half is incredibly long winded, this out increasingly (at times non-existent) and is bizarre to the point of near-incoherence. Especially the dragged out and truly daft climax that ends on an abrupt, incomplete feeling note and one of the silliest and most unintentionally funny sex scenes in recent years.

Some of the intended creepy behaviours of the cult were potentially unnerving and sounded it on paper but were under-explored and/or left as loose ends or implied. A much shorter length definitely would have helped the pacing and atmosphere, the film is overlong and could have easily been trimmed by 25-30 minutes which would have tightened the pace. Which would have been achieved if scenes were made shorter and if motivations went into more detail.

Closing thoughts: Overall, underwhelming.

4/10.

Be first thing I wanted to do after leaving the cinema, was to discover what the swedish thought of this film, in general they saw it with humour, and an open mind, as I expected.

It's pretty much split right down the middle, first half, dare I say it, normality, drama, with a heavy focus on grief, and the harsh way it can affect someone, particularly if there's trauma involved. The second half is very trippy, and we delve into the world of pagan ritual and bizarre rights, which makes The Whicker Man look like a tea party.

The main leads, Florence Pugh and Jack Reynor, were terrific. Pugh had impressed previously in The Little Drummer Girl, it was obvious she was destined for big things, she played Dani with a real sense of torment, very impressive. The cast had a realism, it was refreshing not to watch a cast that look set for a Dior catwalk.

It won't be for everyone, and I must point out that some scenes are painfully long, needlessly. Some amazing special effects.

Violence and nudity, but neither are gratuitous or simply for shock. A few laughs, several times the cinema erupted in laughter.

Very good. 8/10