Midsommar

I believe Suomi is evil


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VoR

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The new one from Ari Aster - writer director of Hereditary. I'd say if you liked that one, you'll like this too. If you didn't, don't bother. I loved it, but we had a fair few walkouts in our screen. :D

I think it's one of those that really benefits from a cinema viewing rather than at home, because the trippy visuals and languid pace can wash over you better. I didn't find it to be particularly scary, it's more about creating a creeping sense of unease that builds up to... well, if you've seen Hereditary :D

I was never quite sure what Hereditary was really trying to say, but this one is much more obviously about toxic relationships and messy breakups. Florence Pugh is fantastic, she doesn't get as much scenery chewing as Toni Collette, but it's a more controlled performance and excellent for it. I'd love to see her get some awards attention for it, but if Toni couldn't get any major noms I have my doubts...

The boyfriend was a bit more one dimensional I felt, as were the other supporting characters, but it was nice to see Chidi from The Good Place in a fairly prominent role.
 
I fucking loved it. Planning to see it again this weekend, maybe more than once. It was hypnotic.
 
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I adored Hereditary. It's one of my favourite horror films of all-time, but this one left me mostly cold. It has some absolutely gorgeous and striking imagery, but it felt overlong, predictable and nowhere near as atmospheric as it's straining for. Not scary or disturbing either, and yet it really should be. I also felt some of the character decisions weren't particularly believable, nor were any of the characters particularly worth investing in. It's going for Wicker Man vibes, but doesn't really get there for me. I'd give it 7/10. Not bad by any means, and vastly superior to the generic trashy horror flicks out there, but far from a masterpiece.
 
Loved it, the open grief of Florence Pugh in the first part was really devastating. My audience also ate it up but it’s more of a dark comedy and there was a lot of uncomfortable laughter. It also looked great, every shot was beautiful to look at.

Florence is in Greta Gerwig’s Little Women playing Amy so this will serve to boost her profile if that turns out good.
 
Oh I was cackling at the end, but I did the same with Hereditary. I don't think the occasional silliness takes away from either film, I really admire the fact that it's unafraid to really swing for the rafters. A lot of the best classic horror has elements of camp. The Wicker Man is an obvious comparison for this one, but I feel like Carrie is another one.

I really felt for Florence Pugh's character in the first act when she was trying to be accommodating and not a drag even though she was clearly still massively traumatised. Despite the boyfriend not being the most fleshed out character, I did also feel a bit of sympathy for him too - I would imagine many people have been in a situation where a long term relationship is on the outs but then something horrible happens to the other person and you end up sort of trapped. He was obviously a bit of a dick too though.
 
I thought the humour here was all intentional, whereas I’m not sure if we were supposed to be laughing at Toni Collette’s headless body flying up to the treehouse in Hereditary.

I enjoyed it the most as a bonkers, off the wall, break up film. :D
 
Loved it. It dragged in places but the last 30 minutes or so was outrageously silly and shocking. Great performance from Florence too, loved the smirk she gave to camera at the end. I haven't sat in stunned silence after a film ends since L'Interieur.
 
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God I loved every minute of this. Could have happily sat through another couple of hours of it, gore notwithstanding. My film of the year so far.
 
the first hour was great but the second was really boring. no actual suspense, just waiting for the inevitable. reminded me of von Trier in places, maybe he's going for that spot

the sex scene however was hilarious, it had the audience howling
 
Just found this on Amazon Prime and got very excited as I’d missed it at the cinema.

And it was alright. Disappointing overall. The character’s decisions were ridiculous, which always ruins a film for me, and the ending was just silly- but then Hereditary was a good premise ruined by a stupid ending too.

I thought the hot naked boyfriend wasn’t really very good, albeit that his character wasn’t fleshed out, if you excuse the pun. Pugh, however, was outstanding. Truly a brilliant performance for which I thought she deserved more credit than she got.
 
I fucking loved this - just watched it.

Maybe it was because I watched it alone and humour tends to come when you have someone else to react with, but I didn't find much of it funny at all - I was genuinely freaked out by the sex scene at the end. And not just because of all those fannies. I thought it was really freaky as fuck. The imagery was totally haunting.

Echo everyone's comments on The Wicker Man. Just feels like an updating of that story for the 21st century.

I'm never going to Sweden. I assume all Swedish people to be like this now.

Florence Pugh's performance was great. Whoever the English couple were - fucking hell they were SHIT. They almost ruined one of the biggest set-pieces of the movie with their shit acting (basically the only point where they had to anything of note).
 
Just found this on Amazon Prime and got very excited as I’d missed it at the cinema.

And it was alright. Disappointing overall. The character’s decisions were ridiculous, which always ruins a film for me, and the ending was just silly- but then Hereditary was a good premise ruined by a stupid ending too.

I thought the hot naked boyfriend wasn’t really very good, albeit that his character wasn’t fleshed out, if you excuse the pun. Pugh, however, was outstanding. Truly a brilliant performance for which I thought she deserved more credit than she got.

Oh I loved the ending of this, but I also loved the ending of Hereditary...so, yeah.
 
I fucking loved this - just watched it.

Maybe it was because I watched it alone and humour tends to come when you have someone else to react with, but I didn't find much of it funny at all - I was genuinely freaked out by the sex scene at the end. And not just because of all those fannies. I thought it was really freaky as fuck. The imagery was totally haunting.

I agree! I found it SO disturbing! Such a good point about the humour too. When people start tittering in the cinema at a horror film, it's almost always cos they're utterly freaked out and don't know what else to do. The same thing happened with the end of Hereditary too.
 
The character’s decisions were ridiculous, which always ruins a film for me

Definitely this. I mean it's been awhile since I saw it but I remember it being a massive stretch that the main characters got this far in the first place.

It was good but the last 45 minutes or so dragged and dragged, full of imagery and hazy-floaty moments of everyone being sucked into their world. I get the point and tone they were aiming for but it just went on and on. I suspect on repeat viewings I'll appreciate it more.

Hereditary on the other hand is a fucking masterpiece. I love everything about it INCLUDING the batshit ending, which still makes perfect sense to me plot wise. Kind of.
 
This has been on my watchlist since it came out and I was pretty disappointed, I loved Hereditary but this one was so...slight, narratively speaking.
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The second half particularly dragged on and on, and yes the characters' decisions were OUTRAGEOUS, it should have been a completely different film after the cliff scene.

Florence was fab though.
 
So I stumbled upon this yesterday after enjoying Florence Pugh in Black Widow, and it was such a hoot. So absurd even sometimes bordering on the abstract - some of the shots and sequences were such mindfucks. It’s a risk to interject thrillers / horrors with slow, plodding scenes but it really worked here and it never really felt long at 2.5 hours.

I do love anything about cults and brainwashing so I was invested in this. Didn’t see the ending coming but it was, I suppose, in keeping with the rest of the film.
 
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Have you not watched Hereditary? It’s the same director and also great.

I just ordered the special edition director’s cut Blu-ray of this from the A24 shop.
 
I've not seen that no, even though I've heard great things and I love Toni Collete. I believe that's more of a straight up horror though as opposed to a thriller or a film about cults?

I'm not a huge fan of supernatural movies. They just don't scare me at all.
 
Give it a try, it’s quite good especially if you liked Midsommar
 

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