Midsommar

Tags

2010's, Ari Aster, Florence Pugh, Horror, Jack Reynor, Midsommar, Psychological Horror, Vilhelm Blomgren, Will Poulter, William Jackson Harper

Ari Aster follows up his creepy and startling debut Hereditary with Midsommar; an ambitious, head-spinning horror that builds to a stocking finale, while supplying tension, tiered meanings and an immensely dedicated performance from Florence Pugh.

Dani( Florence Pugh) is a young woman who’s just experienced a gut-wrenching trauma. Her bipolar sister committed suicide via inhaling carbon monoxide and killing her parents as well. Broken by this, Dani turns to boyfriend Christian( Jack Reynor) , who is not exactly helpful and more interested in himself. Their relationship was precarious as it was and now Dani leans on him for support which he is unable to supply her with. A few months pass and Christian, who is studying anthropology for a PHD, is invited by his Swedish friend Pelle(Vilhelm Blomgren) to a festival in his Nordic homeland. He is to be joined by fellow students reasonable Josh( William Jackson Harper) and obnoxious Mark(Will Poulter). Dani finds out and Christians reluctantly asks her to come with them, to which she accepts. She’s still reeling from her trauma and suffering with depression and anxiety, but the trip sounds like a good getaway for her. Touching down in Sweden, they go back to nature among the wide fields and mountains that are populated by a commune. Dani and the others are soon witness to the ways in which they celebrate and their intriguing but slightly off kilter ways of ritual and worship. At first, the practices seem odd but just slightly different and nothing too serious. There’s dancing, ingestion of strange ingredients with hallucinogenic qualities and the fact that everyone does things in a group which while weird doesn’t really give the impression of anything dark or macabre. Yet with growing horror, events get ramped up and grisly horror ensues for the visitors, most of all fragile Dani. What started out as a sojourn to a festival with a difference slowly morphs into a waking nightmare for Dani as things just get more and more intense, impacting on her already tenuous mental state.

Ari Aster proves Hereditary was no fluke with this electrifying and bizarre blend of psychological folk horror and a meditation on trauma. He goes for the creeping approach, peppering in shocks and even snippets of humour at the start then slowly bubbling away at the uneasiness mounting like a fit to burst volcano. Grief seems to be a subject with which Ari Aster is familiar with and Midsommar continues in that vein but from a more surreal and grander scale. The most obvious comparison to Midsommar is The Wicker Man. Both films feature a community that’s pagan religion deviates from what is deemed traditional and most of the action takes place in sunlight. References can be seen and are well done( for me it’s a high comparison with a classic), but Midsommar is its own film with a hallucinogenic sensibility and layered drama. While very much a horror film, Midsommar functions as an exploration of reaction to trauma, purging the soul and toxic relationships. The last mentioned point on relationships is especially true as things continue to go downhill for Dani. The horror hits home more for that very reason and then some. I believe Midsommar is the type of movie that is rewarding upon watching again. Pockets of information are scattered often in plain sight but make more sense once the whole picture comes together with frightening force. You’ll be left thinking about the film no matter how you feel about it that’s for sure and certain.

On a visual level, Midsommar is an assault on the senses. From a flipped shot that goes upside down in arresting fashion to the houses the commune live in that are decorated with telling murals, you can’t escape the sensory overlord and beautiful cinematography. The use of wide shots and aerial shots captures the surrounding in majestic form, fleshing out the setting that is as breathtaking as it is unsettling. Bathing events in a mostly bright sheen, horror plays out against flora and fauna in a most peculiar way. The setting is alive, quite literally in some parts as you’ll no doubt be witness to if you venture out to see Midsommar. One of my favourite touches is Dani among the ladies dancing around in circles, adorned with a flower headdress. It’s a scene that overlaps images to a dazzling effect and perfectly sums up the unusual stance of this movie. It’s spellbinding even when outrageous and stomach churning festivities are taking place, making sure you never quite look away from what’s presented to your eyes.The use of sound is exemplary, from the unusual rhythms and punctuated noises to the eerie sense of silence and stillness. It compliments the atmosphere of something being very sinister and extremely horrifying to come.

At the heart of everything is the promising Florence Pugh. Over the last few years she has impressed me with her versatility and she doesn’t disappoint with her performance  in Midsommar. She’s contained and crumbling under the burden of grief, constantly attempting to stifle her feelings. When it all comes out, Pugh nails the anguish and the sense of release, coupled with the slow and crushing sense of falling deeper into horror( or is it something else?) Her eyes are fascinating at profiling her internalised emotions that eventually reveal themselves with shocking intensity and surprising depth. Put simply, Florence Pugh impresses throughout with her surrender to challenging material. Jack Reynor nails it as the conceited boyfriend who gets put through his own horror and Reynor shines in the horrifying last act. Vilhelm Blomgren, William Jackson Harper and Will Poulter flesh out the other men of the movie who experience the terror unfolding, with Will Poulter the most memorable as the guy obsessed with getting sexy action and getting a lot more than he bargained for. As good as the guys are though, Midsommar belongs to the exceptional Florence Pugh who is for my money, going places.

Horrifying, hypnotic and hard to forget, Midsommar is one of the most unsettling films I’ve seen in a while. But like it’s predecessor, once you’ve viewed it, you can’t shake it. Ari Aster is shaping up to be a major league director and Florence Pugh is fast becoming a prominent and talented actress to watch.

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Macbeth

Tags

2010's, David Thewlis, Jack Reynor, Justin Kurzel, Macbeth, Marion Cotillard, Michael Fassbender, Paddy Considine, Sean Harris, Tragedy, William Shakespeare

Film Title

Macbeth

Director

Justin Kurzel

Starring

• Michael Fassbender as Macbeth
• Marion Cotillard as Lady Macbeth
• Paddy Considine as Banquo
• Sean Harris as Macduff
• Jack Reynor as Malcolm
• David Thewlis as King Duncan

Shakespeare’s classic play Macbeth is one that is often committed to film many a time, but this version of the tragedy has enough clout and striking atmosphere to distinguish it from the crowd.

The film begins on a Scottish battlefield as civil war is raging. Lord Macbeth is fighting for the cause of King Duncan against the opposition. The battle is a bloody one and following events will also change for Macbeth. After the battle, Macbeth encounters a group of witches who tell him of a prophecy that he will be king. The other part of the foreshadowing is that his friend and fellow fighter Banquo’s descendants will also be kings in the future, as Macbeth’s child has died. This prophecy, in particular the fact that he will become king, haunts and consumes Macbeth, who is unsure of how to react to it. Yet spurred on by the deep ambitions of his manipulative wife Lady Macbeth, he goes through with the deed and kills King Duncan. The King’s son Malcolm sees what has happened yet flees, leaving the throne wide open to Macbeth, who already holds a significant title. Macbeth, thanks to the murder he committed with the help of his wife, is crowned King just like the prophecy of the witches said. But the grips of paranoia seize Macbeth and he is haunted by his actions. People grow suspicious of Macbeth and his ways, in particular Banquo and Macduff. This brings out the depraved cruelty within him that begins to wipe out anyone who stands in the way of his tyrannical rule. Soon Macbeth is spiraling into full-on delusional behaviour and outright savagery, as what was once good inside him shatters in the wake of his viciousness and ambition.

Adapting anything from Shakespeare must be a challenge, as you want to  stamp your own impression on the material and not just follow suit of everyone else, though keeping the feeling of the play is crucial to. No one need worry though with Justin Kurzel in the director’s seat. He makes this Macbeth bold, uncompromising and daring in style and content. I’ve always seen Macbeth as something of a cinematic work, and Kurzel holds control over events like a maestro conductor with a dazzling repertoire of celluloid techniques that thrust the story into visceral and dark life. Mist and oppressive setting of the film gives grandiose and spooky ambience to Macbeth, that ensures that the coldness and savagery we witness practically seeps off the screen into our conscience. Gothic splendour exudes from almost every frame before we get an orange-red climax that is an exhilarating spectacle of overflowing anguish and corrupting darkness in which Macbeth faces off with Macduff. Macbeth should also be praised for adhering to the text in a largely faithful manner. It doesn’t try to bring anything up to date and has the verse intact, allowing the actors to savour the lines they are given. A Celtic influenced score matches the events beat for beat as treachery and murder ultimately take hold of almost every character.

At the heart of the film there is Michael Fassbender, who is searing as the eponymous character. Displaying a an engulfing ferocity that becomes more impossible to contain, Fassbender truly draws out the menace and cruelty of Macbeth. Yet in quite a few instances he humanizes the character a little bit, so you can practically feel the anguish and growing paranoia from the moment he stabs Duncan and begins his downward spiral. Fassbender is truly on fine form as Macbeth, wrapping his voice around every syllable with a commanding performance of intensity and suffering. Matching him move for move is Marion Cotillard as the driving force which is Lady Macbeth. She’s a calculating woman of dark ambition that Cotillard plays to the hilt with a sometimes mask like detachment that serves the character well and gets the audience to puzzle over what is going on in her head. With the added sub-plot of her losing a child, Cotillard works wonders in unfurling that maybe Lady Macbeth has filled the devastating void left my her loss with a ruthless and cruel plots of which she has control over. It’s a different interpretation of the character that is all the better for the uniqueness that Cotillard provides, especially in the later scenes of a guilt-ridden woman knowing that a lot of her husband’s descent is by her own hand. The excellent supporting cast is strong and includes David Thewlis, Paddy Considine , Sean Harris and Jack Reynor. Each of these respective actors is fine in their roles, though the film ultimately belongs to Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard.

A visceral, violent and bold retelling of the play, Macbeth brings the action to the cinematic heights yet never sacrifices the intimacy or verse of the source material. Shakespeare never looked so brutal and entrancing as it does here.