INDIA: A 2019 movie from the director of ‘Hereditary’ is a genre of horror that may not be widely explored. A film that’s somewhat trapped in the time or place that it presents giving off a claustrophobic feel.
The storyline awaits terrifying themes and elements in this one as opposed to the more traditional scares and chills of ‘Hereditary’.
Enchanting in a deceptive way
The characters and the setting make-believe the viewers that horror in the dark and jump scares with heavy soundtracks don’t always ingredient a good horror movie.
In retrospect, the horror movie analogues ‘Suspiria‘ from 2018 where it is meandered and feels unfocused on its subject. Is this a movie about relationships and breaking up or a girl finding a family? About people’s failed empathy for others or is this a movie about grief? It touches on so many themes, and yet it swings home to a thematically satisfying conclusion.
The audiences tried going in as blindly as possible and were totally thrown for a loop, they found themselves scanning every inch of the screen, partly because it was beautiful partly for clues as to learn what was going on. Moreover, Wide shots and extreme close-ups in certain places successfully complement the mildly intense music and in turn, create an eerie atmosphere bewildering the audience.
The technical aspects from the way it’s directed, sound edited and design, transitions, compositions, soundtrack are plenty admirable. Furthermore, it manages to accurately depict the use of psychedelic drugs.
Bemusing storyline
The characters are underwritten and make out-of-place decisions that factor in horror movies. Contrast to ‘Hereditary’ as it felt incredibly sincere in its characterization. The characters of Hereditary are pawns, but they feel like people. The opposite feels true in Midsommar.
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When asked about the apparent plot holes in the horror movie, Aris Aster, the director of Midsommar said, “For one, although the Midsommar festival happens every year, the part that happens at the film’s end–the fiery human sacrifice–occurs only every 90 years. In addition to that, said sacrifice occurs on only the fourth day of the nine-day festival, leaving us to wonder how the festival could possibly continue to escalate for five more days after that.”
“That’s something that we always understood would be potentially confusing to people, but I’m really allergic to exposition that’s not absolutely needed, or that’s not, like, woven invisibly into the fabric, and there was just no way of explaining that in a way that didn’t feel like spoon-feeding information,” Aster said. “In the three hour and 45-minute version of it, it’s a little bit clearer, but it was just one of the casualties of cutting the movie down.” That said, the actual plot is incredibly derivative. It trespasses beyond the borders of homage during certain scenes.
