A couple travels to Sweden to visit a rural hometown's fabled mid-summer festival. What begins as an idyllic retreat quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult.
Writer/director Ari Aster breaks down genre expectations, The Wicker Man influences, and how he wants audiences to feel after his "break-up film," Midsommar.
A faded television actor and his stunt double strive to achieve fame and success in the film industry during the final years of Hollywood's Golden Age in 1969 Los Angeles.
Twenty-seven years after their first encounter with the terrifying Pennywise, the Losers Club have grown up and moved away, until a devastating phone call brings them back.
In the summer of 1989, a group of bullied kids band together to destroy a shape-shifting monster, which disguises itself as a clown and preys on the children of Derry, their small Maine town.
Director:
Andy Muschietti
Stars:
Bill Skarsgård,
Jaeden Martell,
Finn Wolfhard
A young woman, while attempting to save her father during a category 5 hurricane, finds herself trapped in a flooding house and must fight for her life against alligators.
Director:
Alexandre Aja
Stars:
Kaya Scodelario,
Barry Pepper,
Morfydd Clark
Astronaut Roy McBride undertakes a mission across an unforgiving solar system to uncover the truth about his missing father and his doomed expedition that now, 30 years later, threatens the universe.
After hearing a young boy's cry for help, a sister and brother venture into a vast field of tall grass in Kansas but soon discover there may be no way out...and that something evil lurks within.
Director:
Vincenzo Natali
Stars:
Laysla De Oliveira,
Avery Whitted,
Patrick Wilson
Dani (Florence Pugh) and Christian (Jack Reynor) are a young American couple with a relationship on the brink of falling apart. But after a family tragedy keeps them together, a grieving Dani invites herself to join Christian and his friends on a trip to a once-in-a-lifetime midsummer festival in a remote Swedish village. What begins as a carefree summer holiday in a land of eternal sunlight takes a sinister turn when the insular villagers invite their guests to partake in festivities that render the pastoral paradise increasingly unnerving and viscerally disturbing.Written by
A24 Releasing
The film was originally given an NC-17 by the MPAA. According to Ari Aster, around 30 minutes was cut from the final film mainly due to content. A director's cut is planned for the home video release. See more »
Goofs
The Americans react to the sun being up late at night. The sun doesn't set until after 10.30 PM in the area around midsummer, but the lack of long shadows reveals that the scene does not take place in the late evening at 61° North but rather around noon at 47° North (Hungary). The film appears to be filmed in Utah which is around 42 degree N - instead of Sweden (which is 61 degree N) that would explain this discrepancy. See more »
The 171-minute Director's Cut restores 24 minutes of additional scenes that were not included in the original cut. The biggest chunk of new footage added, as director Ari Aster acknowledges, is the subplot of Christian researching for his anthropology thesis. The newly added footage is as follows:
1) In the party scene, Dani learns of the scheduled trip to Sweden and questions Christian's intentions. Christian gaslights (suggesting that she was not in her right state of mind) her after she had indirectly ruined the surprise of a romantic invite. The gaslight moment is repeated again in the final additional scene later after the special ceremony. This new scene also shows that he is ill-prepared, which sets up his confrontation with Mark later.
2) In the extended the car ride to Halsingland, Dani asks Josh about the book he's reading and she's told to ask Pelle. Pelle tells her that Christian was brainwashed when he found him. This hints the characteristics of the characters throughout the film: Mark (going along for the ride) ; Dani (tired and depressed); Pelle (manipulative and the mastermind of the secret plan); Josh (passive); Christian (naive)
3) The subplot of Christian's anthropological research is put back and is evident in several scenes of him interacting with Pelle's commune. The subplot reveals two things: Pelle and his commune are well aware from the beginning that he can be easily be manipulated, proven by Maja's attempt to seduce him and his grisly fate at the end; it also reveals that his research is merely a self-serving and misguided attempt to make himself better.
4) After the ritual suicide of the two 72 year-old natives (as to mark the end of the circle of life), Dani is invited to see a special ceremony of a young boy, dressed as tree, volunteered for another ritual. Declaring himself "what's brave is going home" the boy is about to be thrown into a body of water, which horrifies her again. At the last minute, he is let go, having proved his bravery.
5) Immediately after the "special scene", Dani converses with Christian about what she saw. Christian, too focused on his anthropological research, gaslights her again. Soon thereafter, she asks for a sleeping pill before he is targeted by the natives.
The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore)
Performed by Frankie Valli
Written by Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe
Published by Seasons Four Music (BMI) and EMI Longitude Music (BMI)
Courtesy of Rhino Entertainment Company / The Four Seasons Partnership
By arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing See more »
This film is visually beautiful - almost stunning, and yet all that beauty almost lulls you to sleep. At the 58-minute mark I literally nodded off. Thankfully, it was just compelling enough that I chose to stay awake.
I am so glad I did. Or am I? As one reviewer already put it, it is "traumatic" and even though it is slow-going, it is well worth the almost inexplicable payoff.
It will haunt you, in that long after it is over you will think back on it.
What a mind F.
I'll say no more.
24 of 34 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
| Report this
This film is visually beautiful - almost stunning, and yet all that beauty almost lulls you to sleep. At the 58-minute mark I literally nodded off. Thankfully, it was just compelling enough that I chose to stay awake.
I am so glad I did. Or am I? As one reviewer already put it, it is "traumatic" and even though it is slow-going, it is well worth the almost inexplicable payoff.
It will haunt you, in that long after it is over you will think back on it.
What a mind F.
I'll say no more.