Rated R 

Running time of 2 hour and 24 minutes 
Director: Ari Aster 
Written by: Ari Aster
Cast: Florence Pugh Jack Reynor William Jackson Harper Vilhelm Blomgren Will Poulter  Ellora Torchia Archie Madekwe 
Release Date:July 3, 2019

WARNING - SPOILERS BELOW.

The Digest

Rated R 

Running time of 2 hour and 24 minutes 
Director: Ari Aster 
Written by: Ari Aster
Cast: Florence Pugh Jack Reynor William Jackson Harper Vilhelm Blomgren Will Poulter  Ellora Torchia Archie Madekwe 
Release Date:July 3, 2019

WARNING - SPOILERS BELOW.

The Digest

Dani (Florence Pugh) Is broken. She is insecure and anxious. Its almost as if she can't make a move without checking in with her very much put upon boyfriend, Christian (Jack Reynor)

After a desperate call from Dani concerning her bipolar sister, Christian at the behest of his friends  Mark (Will Poulter), Josh (William Jackson Harper), and Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren), he is ready to kick her to the curb and have a "bro-cation" in Sweden for the simmer. Just as he comes to the realization that this is best for him. he gets a call from Dani. All he can hear is guttural and anguished screams.

He had encourage her to ignore her sister because he thought she was being manipulated by her only for her sister to kill herself and her parents. Now Dani has no one but Christian. He can leave her now. That would be cruel. Some months go by but Dani is still lost. She agrees to go out and she finds out about the “Bro-Cation”

He now feels obligated to invite her and theiy're on their way to Sweden. They are all doctoral students and decide to use this opportunity to do some research. It turns out that Pelle is from a small Swedish Commune and they will be celebrating their traditional summer festival. Midsommar.

Once the reach the dmall vommune, they are greeted by Pelle's family and see that he brought along two Brts, Simon and Connie. Things seem off but not worrisome. They are given psychotropic mushrooms so they are comically high within the first 15 mins of getting there Dani doesnt want to but bows to peer pressure.As the day goes on they are informed that the festival of Harga is a nine-day festival that takes place every 90 years. Now things are getting really weorf and starting to freak them out except for Josh and Christian who find the entire cultural worthy of writing their dissertations on. But for everyone else, there is something scary and strange going on and the may not survive this madness.

The Dish

Wow. Wow. It has taken me days to write this review because I had to process it and I had to figure out a way to convey the story without spoiling it completely This movie is not unlike Get Out in terms of uniqueness and originality. There have been other movies about weird cults, but this one is a little different. And I think that is due to Florence Pugh. She was a powerhouse in this movie. I'm still having nightmares over her heartbroken screams. Hell she deserves an Oscar for crying,

It also played on my fears as a black person, not unlike Get Out. No black person wants to be separated and isolated with a bunch of crazy white people. To be clear this movie has ZERO to do with race, so the fear I identified with was completely unintentional but it made things more tense for me.But look. the minute you start trying to get me to take mushrooms and talking about once every 90 years traditions (yeah. ok) I'm out.

Speaking of tense Aster was a master at building tension, but also taking us on a subtle visual and audio ride. A zoom in of a quiet street, the silence shattered by the desperate ringing of a phone. The soul wrenching crying of Dani. The upside down driving shot, The members of the commune screaming and grunting in unison. The shocking grotesqueness of death. All of it visually stunning and heart pounding. I did not see Aster's first film, “Hereditary” simply because I don't like that type of movie, so I had no frame of reference and comparison, but I am now a fan. I would love to see what he has coming up next, unless its like Hereditary then its a strong pass.

The Swedish actors embraced the weird obsceneness of the celebration of Midsommar and Christian's friends epitomize “Bro” culture and provided many moments of much needed levity

The Directive

This movie is not for everyone. If you can handle gratuitous violence and sex. At times it's a bit much. That said, its still one of the unique movies I've ever seen.

5/5

ICQ: 8690410

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