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This movie really should've just been Evening Primrose, but set in an IKEA.
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Jul 19, 2019 03:38
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Magic Hate Ball posted:This movie really should've just been Evening Primrose, but set in an IKEA. That sounds loving sick
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Jul 19, 2019 03:44
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The argument that a film marketed as a horror by a horror director who did not during publicity distance the film from the horror genre and also contains scenes of intense gore and even jump scares is “not actually a horror” just reads as apologia for it not being a good horror movie, sorry. Like to me a horror movie not being very scary or even not having many scares in it at all doesn’t make it a bad movie. I love the Vvitch but I don’t find that movie scary in the slightest - I wouldn’t argue it “isn’t a horror” though, just a different kind. Like I’m even willing to give you semantics and say sure, the film isn’t an overt horror - it’s just a really gory murder-filled drama. Fine. Judging on that lens - it’s still limp, weirdly directed and ineffective. Calico Heart fucked around with this message at 12:17 on Jul 19, 2019 |
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Jul 19, 2019 12:15
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JudgeX posted:it's freaky as hell, but if it weren't billed as horror, i dont think it would have earned the label. You walk into a store that sells movies. They organize movies by genre, as most stores do. What section would you find Midsommar? Let’s say there isn’t a section that says ‘Break Up Movies’ because that is a theme or plot, not a genre. Edit: and The Shining, the movie where ghosts of murdered people convince an insane person to murder his family with an axe, is indeed a horror movie based on a horror novel, no matter what weird mental gymnastics you play. Franchescanado fucked around with this message at 15:35 on Jul 19, 2019 |
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Jul 19, 2019 15:33
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Franchescanado posted:You walk into a store that sells movies. A what?
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Jul 19, 2019 15:33
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Franchescanado posted:You walk into a store that sells movies. They organize movies by genre, as most stores do. What section would you find Midsommar? Travel
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Jul 19, 2019 15:44
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I didn't really mind the characters not displaying agency, because out of the five, one is in on it, one is invested for his thesis, one actually does freak out but gets removed from the board before he can do anything, and the other two are clearly hosed in the head. For Dani particularly, it kind of feels like a thematic display of executive dysfunction - she's so absolutely hosed from her sister's murder suicide that she literally cannot bring herself to express agency and surrenders herself to the flow of the cult. The only one you would realistically expect to do anything but doesn't is Christian, and his inability to poo poo or get off the pot is his defining character flaw that prefigures his arc from scene one and what damns himself and everyone else.
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Jul 19, 2019 16:05
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All these movies end the same way. Midsommar, Heredity, The VVitch, Crazy Rich Asians.
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Jul 19, 2019 19:04
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Come And See posted:All these movies end the same way. It's because America is so unappealing at this point.
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Jul 19, 2019 19:36
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a new study bible! posted:So what's the moral of this movie? Life is not easy and to find yourself you muster strength to deal with issues as they come or complacency will lead to everything's doom. Maybe don't wallow in your bullshit and drag everyone down with you. Get mental help.
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Jul 20, 2019 00:22
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Read through the first few pages and didn't see anyone ask this question, sorry if I'm being repetitive: The cult's pair of suicide volunteers are given a yew stick or something to lick before the building is set on fire, and they're told it'll prevent pain and fear. But the non-Ingemar guy starts freaking the gently caress out when he catches fire. I wasn't sure what to make of that. Is the idea that they lied about the yew doing anything and that the cult members are also kind of getting hosed over? Or that the guy regretted his decision to volunteer? That few seconds really confused me since everyone's real committed to this cult stuff and there's no indication of any of them batting an eyelash at literally anything else they do. And this guy probably also did the exchange-student thing; he's been out and about in the world and knows that he's volunteering to die. On a different note, I loved this movie. The only thing I would change is removing the half-dozen or so close-ups of the dead elders. It's weirdly gruesome and more just made me look elsewhere for a couple minutes rather than be scared. It also really undermined any of the other physical stuff throughout the rest of the movie because it outdoes them; seeing a head get hit with a mallet from an inch away is way worse than the blood eagle thing an hour later in the film. You could do the exact same thing but keep the camera at the protagonists' POV distance and it would be way better, in my opinion. P.S. it's loving wild how much Christian looks and sounds like a discount Chris Pratt fresh off of Parks and Rec. edit: Also, is it implied that Pelle is the product of inbreeding? At the end, someone talks about his "unclouded wisdom" or whatever and it's the same phrase used for their oracle. surf rock fucked around with this message at 03:43 on Jul 20, 2019 |
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Jul 20, 2019 03:37
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Yew bark is asprin. It's a pain killer, but like, it's asprin not morphine
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Jul 20, 2019 04:29
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they also lied.
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Jul 20, 2019 11:06
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I read it more as them being, uh, a dumb and crazy cult that doesn’t loving know what they’re talking about
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Jul 20, 2019 13:47
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I’m pretty sure they gave the guys something to paralyze them before setting the building on fire. It doesn’t matter how committed you are to sacrificing yourself, once you start burning the body is going autopilot. The first time they did this the sacrifices probably came running out of the building screaming and in flames so the elder council got together and was like “How do we get these guys to sit still? Maybe give them some of this paralyzing sauce and just tell them it’s a pain killer.” Also this movie is a horror is the same way Don’t Look Now is. In fact, they are kind of the same movie. Couple experiences unbearable family loss, characters go to a foreign country, weird colors and visuals freak them out, locals offer grief relief, hallucinations, one of them is murdered and the other is stuck with the locals.
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Jul 20, 2019 14:04
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tonedef131 posted:I’m pretty sure they gave the guys something to paralyze them before setting the building on fire. It doesn’t matter how committed you are to sacrificing yourself, once you start burning the body is going autopilot. The first time they did this the sacrifices probably came running out of the building screaming and in flames so the elder council got together and was like “How do we get these guys to sit still? Maybe give them some of this paralyzing sauce and just tell them it’s a pain killer.” This is not a flattering comparison for midsommar
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Jul 20, 2019 14:36
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surf rock posted:The cult's pair of suicide volunteers are given a yew stick or something to lick before the building is set on fire, and they're told it'll prevent pain and fear. But the non-Ingemar guy starts freaking the gently caress out when he catches fire. I wasn't sure what to make of that. Is the idea that they lied about the yew doing anything and that the cult members are also kind of getting hosed over? Or that the guy regretted his decision to volunteer? That few seconds really confused me since everyone's real committed to this cult stuff and there's no indication of any of them batting an eyelash at literally anything else they do. And this guy probably also did the exchange-student thing; he's been out and about in the world and knows that he's volunteering to die. the fire sacrifice is the capstone and the thing that only happens once every 90 years, so for everyone except those with knowledge of the ritual it'll be their only time seeing it. whatever objections some might have won't matter since everyone who saw it happen will be dead the next go-round.
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Jul 20, 2019 15:48
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The society of the film is basically a Brigadoon.
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Jul 20, 2019 16:04
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Brigadoon is way more terrifying.
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Jul 20, 2019 16:40
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a new study bible! posted:So what's the moral of this movie? Shared emotional vulnerability forges uncannily strong bonds.
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Jul 20, 2019 17:29
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the important question is, would this movie be better or worse with terrifying CGI cat people as all the Swedes
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Jul 20, 2019 20:01
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Idk but I’d def watch
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Jul 20, 2019 20:43
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LORD OF BOOTY posted:the important question is, would this movie be better or worse with terrifying CGI cat people as all the Swedes I was kind of hoping they'd all turn into cat people or goat people at the end. I hope the fact that they don't isn't a spoiler.
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Jul 20, 2019 20:47
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It would be worse, but way sexier
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Jul 20, 2019 20:52
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K. Waste posted:It would be worse, but way sexier MODS??!!?!
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Jul 20, 2019 20:57
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Apart from my gripes that are very specific to Swedes (wooden acting, everybody talking in a Stockholm dialect), I thought this was a huge step down from Hereditary. Hereditary, while far from perfect, had a very tight story that had with strong horror elements and scares grounded in an emotional connection to the characters related to its central plot where you-know-what happens early on. The whole cult element of that film's plot is ultimately inconsequential to why it works beautifully (I always felt that *those* plot elements of Hereditary essentially were window-dressing for nerds to analyze on Reddit anyway). Midsommar on the other hand felt incredibly overlong, had very little relevant plot nor compelling scares to keep the viewer engaged (it being, perhaps wrongly, marketed as a horror movie doesn't help). The whole first act before the trip (that I actually found incredibly well-written and acted) could be trimmed with no consequence to what happens later - and what happens later isn't very engaging if you've ever seen The Wicker Man or its countless imitators. It's technically well made, but it just screams of the bloated second feature of an acclaimed director where all the nay-saying and studio demands of brevity fall by the wayside (compare the compactness of Reservoir Dogs to Tarantino's later films). I get the impression that Midsommar was in the cutting room at the same as Hereditary got its rave reviews. There's a great 90 minute movie there somewhere, it just happened to be surrounded by another hour that it didn't need. widunder fucked around with this message at 23:19 on Jul 20, 2019 |
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Jul 20, 2019 22:59
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LORD OF BOOTY posted:the important question is, would this movie be better or worse with terrifying CGI cat people as all the Swedes you want scooby doo on zombie island
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Jul 20, 2019 23:58
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widunder posted:Hereditary, while far from perfect, had a very tight story that had with strong horror elements and scares grounded in an emotional connection to the characters related to its central plot where you-know-what happens early on. The whole cult element of that film's plot is ultimately inconsequential to why it works beautifully (I always felt that *those* plot elements of Hereditary essentially were window-dressing for nerds to analyze on Reddit anyway). I find takes like this incredibly bizarre, not even so much respective to Midsommar. Like, effectively, you aren't just saying Hereditary is "far from perfect." You're saying it's a lovely movie. Like, a film where the entire framework of its narrative is "ultimately inconsequential to why it works" and only exists as "window-dressing for nerds" is terrible filmmaking. This seems to be a rather common take of Aster's cinema, which JudgeX also iterated, as well as various posters saying, like, "Aster should just concentrate on melodrama." There is this persistent impression of the high concept elements of his films detracting from what makes them "work," which gets things completely backwards: It is because Aster is good at imagining these incredibly morbid melodramatic scenarios that the horror works; whereas, on the other hand, without the horror, Hereditary is just a story about a rich, dysfunctional family who come to blows because of some incredibly contrived tragedy. It's the horror elements that provide this critical, black comic context that elevates it above bourgeois narcissism. It's literally poking holes in the pathological obsession in melodramatic fantasies with families being "functional" and "orderly" and "nurturing." The cult is the diabolical fulfillment of what was always undergirding this arrangement.
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Jul 21, 2019 00:58
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Hereditary without the horror is August Osage County, which is also horror.
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Jul 21, 2019 01:02
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Magic Hate Ball posted:Hereditary without the horror is August Osage County, which is also horror. The movie sucked, though
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Jul 21, 2019 01:13
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K. Waste posted:The movie sucked, though Yes, but the play is incredible.
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Jul 21, 2019 02:04
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K. Waste posted:I find takes like this incredibly bizarre, not even so much respective to Midsommar. Like, effectively, you aren't just saying Hereditary is "far from perfect." You're saying it's a lovely movie. Like, a film where the entire framework of its narrative is "ultimately inconsequential to why it works" and only exists as "window-dressing for nerds" is terrible filmmaking. That isn't me calling Hereditary lovely, I'm saying the core foundation is so incredibly good that its skeletal plotting feels inconsequential. It's sort of how the plot of something like the original Suspiria doesn't carry that film. E: Since seeing Midsommar and reading other people's takes on it, I'm more and more convinced that my expectations of it actually being a horror movie kind of slanted my take on it. On the other hand, it so often has the visual language of a horror movie so maybe it's no wonder that expectation stuck with me throughout. I think with a more diligent cutting process, the themes other mentioned in this thread (essentially the main character dealing with grief by finding a new cult family) would probably shine brighter. widunder fucked around with this message at 08:08 on Jul 21, 2019 |
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Jul 21, 2019 07:57
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widunder posted:Apart from my gripes that are very specific to Swedes (wooden acting, everybody talking in a Stockholm dialect), I thought this was a huge step down from Hereditary. I agree with pretty much everything here
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Jul 21, 2019 16:05
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QuoProQuid posted:you want scooby doo on zombie island this is a loving beautiful post
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Jul 21, 2019 18:17
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I just read through the first 10 or so pages, and didn't see it mentioned, but during Dani's post May Queen victory (roughly), there's a shot where she's being crowned and stuff and she's still tripping balls, but out in the background, I swear i saw a giant face appear on the forest, did anyone else catch that? It just seemed like such an abnormal hallucination vs the other ones we've seen that i figured it might have been something else genuinely supernatural.
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Jul 21, 2019 21:47
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Kin posted:I just read through the first 10 or so pages, and didn't see it mentioned, but during Dani's post May Queen victory (roughly), there's a shot where she's being crowned and stuff and she's still tripping balls, but out in the background, I swear i saw a giant face appear on the forest, did anyone else catch that? it’s her sister’s face.
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Jul 21, 2019 22:12
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This would be the scene: https://youtu.be/12OW2rDaGII?t=27
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Jul 21, 2019 22:44
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Yeah, that's the one. Guess that explains it, I remember her seeing another family member later too so that fits. In retrospect, I think that I wasn't that impressed by how unsubtle the foreshadowing was. I dunno if that was supposed to be the point, but t's like they had all the plot endings in mind and then went back and deliberately peppered in such obvious things that stood out as 'that's gonna link to something later' moments. Like, I feel they were so unsubtle that I don't need to rewatch the film because I caught them all the first time.
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Jul 22, 2019 00:02
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K. Waste posted:This seems to be a rather common take of Aster's cinema, which JudgeX also iterated, as well as various posters saying, like, "Aster should just concentrate on melodrama." There is this persistent impression of the high concept elements of his films detracting from what makes them "work," which gets things completely backwards: It is because Aster is good at imagining these incredibly morbid melodramatic scenarios that the horror works; whereas, on the other hand, without the horror, Hereditary is just a story about a rich, dysfunctional family who come to blows because of some incredibly contrived tragedy. It's the horror elements that provide this critical, black comic context that elevates it above bourgeois narcissism. It's literally poking holes in the pathological obsession in melodramatic fantasies with families being "functional" and "orderly" and "nurturing." The cult is the diabolical fulfillment of what was always undergirding this arrangement. The horror in Hereditary works great - perfectly, actually - it just didn't actually need a boring rear end cult demon reveal at the end for any of it to be impactful, and absolutely does detract from what was most enjoyable about the film.# The mother/son dynamic in Hereditary is fabulous, and the horror for most of the film is derived from it; the mother's internal fear that she is "passing on" mental illness to her children, the mixed feelings of intense hate, love and blame towards her son, the son's feeling of pressure to move on coupled with equl parts gult and blame, the seething tension between them, the unwillingness of either to acknowledge the problem or move on and then the kid bangs his head on the table and the mother saws her loving head off, and the last conversation these two characters who previously the entire film had been about their relationship is completely inconsequential. I LIKE the horror in Hereditary a lot - the slow build, the horrific dreams, the creepy atmosphere is all on point - it's just that in the final act the literal horror in the film supersedes the emotional/psychological horror and the film is definitely worse off for it. Though I think Midsommar is a worse film, at the very least I can say that the main character's final decision is at least influenced by her personal trauma at the start of the film VVVVVV: I mean, it's just nowhere near as interesting as anything that had come before. It's cool if you don't agree with me on that but I don't know what to tell ya if you can't understand that viewpoint Calico Heart fucked around with this message at 13:29 on Jul 22, 2019 |
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Jul 22, 2019 10:09
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Calico Heart posted:The horror in Hereditary works great - perfectly, actually - it just didn't actually need a boring rear end cult demon reveal at the end for any of it to be impactful, and absolutely does detract from what was most enjoyable about the film.# never really got this take. the ending of the movie is fantastic and requires all that.
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Jul 22, 2019 13:20
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