College Students are largely self-centered idiots. That's what I learned in Midsommar, a terrific film written and directed by Ari Aster, the helmer of Hereditary. That was another great film that many critics called this era's Exorcist, though methinks they overshot the mark on that one a little bit.
So back to the college students. Folks, we got one who has centered on a Swedish township with its own little funky history as his thesis, and he invites a couple of his bros along. One Bro has a girlfriend he invites along because her recent massive family tragedy has her on the brink. Wanting her to be steadied in life may be the only likable quality this choad has, however.
Another Bro is a native Swede, who plans to do be the guide in the Midsummer festivities that his family has planned in their rural Swedish countryside area. It's breathtaking, really. It looks like the beginning of the Sound of Music.
Mixed with Helter Skelter.
I feel like Aster is influenced by The Wicker Man, The Guyana Tragedy, and a touch of The Beguiled here. Everything is so gorgeous and colorful here, but Aster's touch creates an off-kilter setting so twisted, that when things get weird, nasty, and out-of-hand, (and trust me, fam, they do) it almost feels like par for the course.
Until the shocks come.
This is a jacked up movie from the get-go. Much like Aster's Hereditary, and Austrian nightmare fuel moviemakers Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz' fun little numbers The Lodge and Goodnight Mommy (check last year's Samhain Project for both) it kicks off with a booming family tragedy.
What's wrong with these people, anyway?
So, some shit happens in your character's life that is low-key catastrophic global thermonuclear breakfast cereal, and then, you decide to absolutely wreck them physically and mentally, just a little bit further?
I don't think these folks, as talented and rich with filmmaking gifts as they are, truly love their characters. Cinematic sadists, they are.
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