Midsommar

When most people think about Sweden, they think about mooses, big lakes, TV host Pontus Gårdinger and rotten fish called Surströmming. Since i am Swedish, i can tell you so many things that you would probably think is incredible about Sweden. Did you know that every year at every autumn we celebrate Swedish Virginity Day on September 28. What is the Swedish Virginity Day ? It is very easy, all adults are suddenly transformed into virgins for one day only. This means you can not have any form of sex, not until September 29. If we do break this rule, The Virginity Demon known as Thorleifz will take our souls for all eternity. Of course every Swedish citizen take this very seriously. But wait a second, this is not in any history books ? There is a good reason why, we are not allowed to talk about this in public. Of course, i am taking a very big risk now, but i want to make sure everyone is safe. Sweden may have beautiful locations, big artists like Nordman and we eat Christmas ham, but there is so much more. Every summer we celebrate Swedish Midsummer, a traditional day where we dance around midsommarstång ( a unique designed flowers filled pole, with two large flowers filled circles hangin on each side ). Why do we dance around this ? I know there is a historical meaning behind this, but my midsommar celebration is mostly about good food, and alcohol. All over Sweden this is a big celebration, where we eat sill ( fish sliced into pieces with spices ), fresh potatoes and brännvin ( strong alcohol, better than Viagra ). If some of you saw the excellent horror film Hereditary from director Ari Aster, you might remember how disturbing that horror film is. Ari is now back with his latest film Midsommar, a film that have been praised by film critics and audiences worldwide. I finally got a chance to see this film in cinema. Have director Ari Aster delievered another high quality film, or is Midsommar his first failure ?

Couple Dani ( Florence Pugh ) and Christian ( Jack Reynor ) travel with their friends to Sweden, to celebrate Swedish Midsummer. Their Swedish friend Pelle ( Willhelm Blomgren ) want to show them how his family celebrate this tradition in Hälsingland. At first everything seems alright, and everyone feels welcome to the village where the ceremony will take place. But what seemed to be an ordinary celebration, is about to show a much more deeper meaning to why this celebration means more than anything else.

Imagine a mixture of Lars Von Trier and legendary director Stanley Kubrick going to Sweden to celebrate a Swedish tradition, and this is what you get while watching the new film Midsommar. This is a very psychological trip into insanity, where you constantly feel that you have no idea what might happen. And this is one of the reasons why i feel that this film is unique. It is not predictable, and not even boring for almost being 2 hours and 30 minutes. This is the kind of film that finally get things right, how Swedish Midsummer should be celebrated. I´m not going into details about certain scenes, but there are some really positive twists in this story that i did not expect. Let´s talk about the acting for a while. Actress Florence Pugh who you might remember from the drama film Lady M. She plays the character known as Dani, and i would say that she gives the best performance in her career so far in Midsommar. There are a couple of scenes towards the end where you really see her go all in, to show us all her pain. Actor Jack Reynor ( i especially remember him for his performance in the Irish drama Glassland ) also gives a strong performance as the character Christian. You can tell that this character is struggling emotionally , especially later into this film when he is forced to be a part of a very odd ceremony. Actor Will Poulter ( who can forget him from the funny comedy We´re The Millers ? )is actually the funniest character in this film, known as Mark. Will feels so natural in his comedy timing, and i can imagine that he would be great as a stand up comedian. Swedish actress Gunnel Fred ( who have been in many Swedish films in the past, such as Strul, Drömkåken and Nina-Frisk ) plays the character Siv. This is one of the characters you are curious about, mysterious and very odd. There are more Swedish actors i could mention, but it is time to get into the highlights of Midsommar. The cult scenes have some extraodinary details, and give us a chilling look into another world. The midsommar celebration is really weird, and religious inspired. Once this film begins to grow a disturbing image of midsummer celebration, i am all hooked up. I love the raw, dark tone that hit you right in the face. Director Ari Ester have made another amazing film with Midsommar. We should not compare it with his previous film Hereditary, since this is a totally different film. Ari knows how to mix folklore influences, with horror elements in a very beautiful and disturbing way. If you are going to see one film in cinema this month, it must be Midsommar. I can already say that this is one of the best films of 2019, so far.

Rating: DDDD