piecesofthink

[piecesofthink]

“[The creature is called] Moder in the novel. … It’s female. … I wanted to preserve my own experience of reading the book, wherein the creature’s design is somewhat shifting. Or at least you have competing ideas about what it might be. We dug into Norse mythology and discovered a Jötnar clan of giants that were known as shape-shifters and would sometimes present with combined human and animal qualities. It felt close enough to what Adam had imagined but gave us a little room to experiment. … I reached out to Keith Thompson, who I was a huge fan of, and was very fortunate to have him come on board. He experimented with those ideas and provided many different possibilities, as well as concepts for the decrepit parishioners, the effigy in the attic, and the hanging elk. It all tied together and told a visual story. The beast design we finally settled on was simply the one I couldn’t take my eyes off of. I think anyone who’s familiar with his work can tell through and through that this is one of his uncanny creations.” - David Bruckner

[piecesofthink]

on the one hand there are many aspects of academia that should be criticized but on the other hand i’m concerned about the rise of anti-intellectualism as a tool of fascism

[piecesofthink]

Midsommar: Post-viewing discussion

Ari Aster’s sophomore feature Midsommar came out this week and I have some thoughts. Disclaimer: I will be comparing Midsommar and Hereditary very heavily. There will also be spoilers for both movies. Just to let you know where I am, I’ll tell you that I absolutely loved Hereditary. I was extremely excited when I heard about Aster’s new movie Midsommar, I went into this movie with a very specific set of expectations.

In the first act of the movie, I was abruptly reminded of Ari Aster’s “style” as it looks to be developing. The tragedy that happens to Dani at the start of the film made me very excited about the trajectory of the narrative. I was disappointed, however, when the plot seemed to veer off course in the second act. Much like Hereditary, Midsommar started by introducing a character in a dynamic state. Instead of starting a character’s “story” at the beginning of the film, Aster seems to start the film at a given point in the character’s movement through life. This is a small detail, but it makes the characters seem that much more real like they existed before the movie and will continue to exist after the movie (if they survive the movie that is). The events of the first act (Dani losing her family, deciding to go to Sweden, crying on the plane, and having that first psychedelic trip) set up a very interesting story to be told. I was expecting a movie that used similar techniques as Hereditary to explore the horrifying and disorienting aftermath of unfathomable tragedy. I found myself wishing that the source of horror was ambiguous, that it could be Dani having a mental breakdown, it could be something supernatural or otherwise. A huge thing I loved about Hereditary was the uncertainty and confusion that I felt as a viewer watching Annie experience the cult. It was not revealed until the very end of the movie what was actually happening and even the title of the movie was ambiguous and could work for many possibilities with the plot.

Once Dani wakes up after her trip, the movie spends the next hour (at least) just showing the village people doing weird things. I get that it is supposed to build tension and make us feel uneasy, but it really just felt like a huge time sink. The movie is two and a half hours long, with that runtime there’s potential for serious character development and an intricate or at least engaging plot. After having seen the movie I can’t help but wonder what the point of Dani’s set up was. Why have her go through such immense pain in that very specific manor just to never revisit it again? A very general issue that I have with the movie is just the source of the horror. Personally, I find the beginning sequence to be the scariest and most genuinely horrifying part of the whole movie. The “scary stuff” we get in the third act is that the village people are…..killing the outsiders to sacrifice them? The reveal of the weird homicidal culty village people really turned me off, it felt very basic and overplayed. Going back to Hereditary, something I really loved about it was how different the source of horror was. Whether it seemed to be the disintegration of a family and a mother’s mental state after the loss of a child or pagan demon possession, the horror felt very fresh and unique. As it actually did turn out to be a demon, Ari Aster kept the story from feeling cheap and overdone by simply making it a pagan demon. All of the demon movies we’ve seen in the last 20 years have been demons that come from Christianity. As the general public is fairly ignorant about Paganism, it suddenly makes the entity that much more scary. The general perspective on Paganism is that it is something very old, very mysterious, very connected to the earth, not as sensationalized, and something that feels much more “real” than the demons from Christianity. I would have much rather just seen Dani struggle with her guilt, her grief, the bleak reality of her life moving forward, and her deteriorating relationship with Christian.

In the final act, the big sacrifice takes place. Dani chooses Christian to be sacrificed and we get a very emotional and visceral conclusion to the story as the temple is seen burning and the village people screaming. Admittedly, I did feel a strong emotional pull at this part of the movie. There was a tangible feeling of catharsis that came from seeing these characters that we’ve watched for the past two and a half hours be turned to ashes. I did, however, find something to complain about at the end of this movie. The burning of the temple was the conclusion to Dani’s story, it was supposed to give her closure as a character and be the omega to some journey that she has taken. I just have to ask, what exactly was this journey? The grand ending that we see is supposed to conclude what story arc? When Dani chose Christian as the sacrifice it was obvious that his death would signify an end to their relationship and Dani’s dependence on him. I just do not believe that Christian really deserved to die. Sure he was an ass and a pretty shitty boyfriend, but his death was not as therapeutic as it would’ve been had he been abusive for example or possibly represented something that had to do with Dani’s trauma surrounding the death of her family. Overall, the movie wasn’t bad. The cinematography, set design, visual effects, and acting were amazing. [Side note: At one point in the beginning, there is a shot of Dani’s parents’ house I believe and it looks like a miniature model of a house. Did anybody else notice this or am I just tripping? If that’s true, it’s a dope ass reference to Hereditary] I give Midsommar a 7/10. I am very excited for Ari Aster’s future projects and any influence he may have on other horror creators.