Review of Midsommar (2019) by Compi24 — 09 Jul 2019

"Hereditary" director Ari Aster follows up his 2018 stunner with "Midsommar," another twisted jaunt through the world of paganism and the occult. On a technical level, everything that made "Hereditary" so memorable is retained.

The shot composition and camera movements are incredibly well-executed and vibrant. The effects are horrific and indelible. The acting is superb, featuring Florence Pugh's finest work to date. But what separates "Midsommar" from "Hereditary" is something a bit more intangible -- the stories vary too different in terms of efficiency.

Even at two hours long, "Hereditary" feels as though no moment is wasted, with every scene building to some sort of reveal or twist. "Midsommar" suffers mightily from an excess number of scenes, elements, and even plot threads and characters that needn't be there, ultimately dragging the pacing down and inflating the running time to at least a half-hour longer than I feel it needed to be.

Aster also goes AWOL a few too many times here, which was a trifling blemish in "Hereditary" that's evolved into a full blown blister ailing the entire third act of this movie. Whereas "Hereditary" featured only a couple of scenes/moments that made my audience chuckle or scratch their proverbial heads, "Midsommar" has at least a good handful or so that had my theater rolling in laughter at what I'm not even sure are intentionally comedic beats.

I know that comparing a filmmaker's movie to their prior work is a bit unfair, but it's all I have to go off of at present. This could have benefitted from a thorough rewrite, in my opinion, but I still thank God there are studios like A24 to champion the unique visions of filmmakers like the one at hand here.