Horror director Ari Aster has only directed two movies, but they have already polarized his audience into two distinct groups - the ones who rave about his work and the ones who went out of the cinema, thinking, "WTF was that all about?"
Hereditary, his first movie, certainly did that to me. Toni Collette gave such a terrific performance in the movie, I did not quite sense that the movie had even deeper demonic meanings.
This week, Midsommar is currently showing in Manila - and once again, I went out of the cinema thinking, "WTF was all of that about?"
The weird thing is, there are many disturbing scenes in the movie, yet I did not find any of them weird, mainly because, earlier in the day, I read an article by Gideon Lasco in the Inquirer, and he talked about cultural relativism - the act of not judging another culture on the standards of one's own.
If you do just that while watching Midsommar, the horror will disappear, as you try to see things from an anthropological point of view. Lasco's article was even more disturbing because he talked about child sacrifice and how common it was among pre-Spanish native Latin American cultures.
If you've seen Mel Gibson's 'Apocalypto' - you'll understand what I mean. Now THAT movie was a real gorefest and with a thrilling plot that involved a wild chase in the Amazon and a pregnant woman about to drown.
Similarly, Midsommar is a gorefest but tempered with Swedish whiteness - from their smiles to their Ariel-stained costumes to the perpetual midnight sun setting. There is no night, only day in the movie.
The movie is rated R-18 and with good reason. You'll see a lot of naked people, probably the most bizarre sex scene you'll ever see in a movie (I didn't know whether to giggle at that part) good thing the guy was cute LOL), plus a lot of disembowelment that would certainly please Hannibal Lecter.
There is a wolf in sheep's clothing in the movie and it is him who lead these 'sheep' characters to their slaughter. If you're the queasy type - I don't suggest eating while watching the movie especially when the third act starts.
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