Every great film should seem new every time you see it.
— Roger Ebert.
There already was an air of mystique within the trailer of this film, and Midsommar did not disappoint. Although it presents itself as a teen drama with a plot set to sort out the details of romantic discord, it takes on a whole different air of cult culture that hearkens Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” in a feature length film.
I will say this, it had all of these wonderfully bizarre plot points that could have easily been springboards for a fantastic exploration of this Swedish society that believes so many strange things. Personally, I wanted to know more, and was hoping the director would have slowed down to develop the wonder of how this community lives and interacts with one another. Unfortunately, the payoff in the ending was lackluster and anticlimactic.
Having watched this film twice to fully absorb the secluded world of the unearthly orthodox inhabitants, I was hoping to delve deeper into the psyche of everyone involved and find out the “why” behind what they do. From the holy book that is forbidden to be photographed, to the love spell being cast through the sharing of hair from the nether regions with the prospective lover, there was so much more that could have been explained.
Although I enjoyed the planted seeds of mysterious subtlety, it was an invitation into the mind of otherworldly people who think this way of living is the way to be. Violence toward the outsiders and apostates was so grotesque and not outwardly justified, that it left me feeling lost and unfulfilled.
Midsommar is a whirlwind on the mind, and I felt that if it had just stopped spinning, from one fascinating element to the next, I could have lived in its world through a clearer lens.
Rating: 7/10.
Through the Looking Glass 