Quarantine Movie #161

If I could ask Ari Aster one thing, it would be: who hurt you man?

Midsommar is a treat to look at. I know that's a weird thing to focus on first, but it's the thing I enjoyed the most. Ari's dollhouse look in Hereditary was great, but man did I love his use of symmetry here. Every shot was a treat. The camera movement is perfect. This is the best I've seen a director control the frame since Kubrick, except for maybe Wes Anderson.

I love how earned everything feels in Midsommar. Nothing ever felt cheap or for the sake of it. Even the darkest moments felt justified. Ari loves to have people wailing off-screen and it might be one of the most effective tactics in modern horror.

The cast is all really solid. Florence Pugh is clearly the standout, but she's surrounded by a great supporting cast, I was especially impressed by a lot of the commune members who barely have lines.

I enjoyed Midsommar just as much as Hereditary but in very different ways. Hereditary fucked me up 1000X more, and I think no one in Midsommar comes close to Toni Collete's performance. At the same time though, I somehow enjoyed the camera work in this, even more than I did in Hereditary, and I was overall more invested in the story.