Midsommar Analysis

Midsommar (2019)

Written and Directed by: Ari Aster
Starring: Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor.

Martin Scorsese included this film in his list of his 40 favorite films of all time. Bong Joon-ho included Ari Aster's first film in his list. This made me so intrigued and curious. Two master filmmakers have put films which released in the 2018 and 2019 alongside films from 1940s, 60s and all the way back - and both are by the same director.  

Midsommar is about a group of friends, who visit a festival in Sweden by a small community - only to slowly realize that they've gotten into a cult. The film starts with a very modern setting, there's a small relationship crisis, some confrontation and there's an eerie incident which happens which is shot in a terrific way - with music, lighting and distorted imagery. I can clearly remember the drone shot which turns upside down, and the shot of the road upside down. It's now become a common way of foreshadowing that life will go downhill for all of them from here - they did this in Mahanati, and Arjun Reddy, but the imagery is strong. The setting of the film keeps unfolding till even an hour into the film, and I think that's the beauty of this film. The tone of the film is established right away, when we see the first deaths - but the world is so new and everything we keep discovering feels so eerie because of the consistency in tone. 

Production design, costumes, hair and make up play a solid role in establishing the world. They use a lot of wide shots in the film, even the suicide scene - it's not shot like they're shooting the scene - it's shot like they're shooting the reactions of the friends and the deaths just happening in the ambiance. They achieve this mostly through editing and sound. The imagery has a strong sense of identity, it's designed in a way that if you pause the film anywhere, it's likely that we recognize it's from this film. I think horror horror - like ghost stories - that isn't a great genre to explore, but mixing it with something else gives scope for a lot of quirkiness and unpredictability and it becomes a blessing for a filmmaker, specifically for an auteur.