NZIFF FILM #12

I have been waiting for Midsommar since I first heard about it last year. It was easily my most anticipated film of 2019. I’d avoided knowing anything about the plot or the characters or who was in it or even seeing a single second of footage, all in the hopes that July 3rd was going to be an incredible day. Then I scheduled myself to leave the country days before it was released. So I deftly navigated the internet and blocked pages and moved all my Twitter followings to lists and avoided literally anything that might accidentally reveal any aspect of Midsommar for the following month, as it wouldn’t be released in New Zealand until August 8th. Then I found out it was playing at the NZIFF and essentially begged Twitter to see if there was anybody that could pull a connection and get me into the screening so I wouldn’t have to wait four whole days longer than I planned, and somebody came through. Then I was feeling extremely down about a conversation I had with my girlfriend in the hour before the movie, and the movie opened in a way that made it clear this was going to be a 140 minute film that put a spotlight on a relationship in slow demise and made me feel even more dour in a way that dragged me down and made it near impossible to actually process the movie or feel affected by any of the things I saw. All I could think was “Jesus Christ this movie is long. I feel awful. I want to go home.”

Anyway, then I talked about the movie with my girlfriend and read some reactions and pieces about it and I think it’s good.