July 6th in Chicago.
Ari Aster writes and directs his second feature about a group of american graduate students travelling to Sweden for a once every 90 year festival at a secluded commune. What could possibly go wrong?
The film opens with Dani (Florence Pugh) going through a crisis with her bipolar sister. This is putting a strain on her relationship with her boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor). Christian decides to leave his pals; Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren), Josh (William Jackson Harper) and Mark (Will Poulter). Much to the chagrin of Mark who thinks he should break up with Dani. On his way over to Dani's, her sister kills herself and her parents. Dani understandably is an emotional wreck.
While at a party later in the school year it comes out that Christian is going to a commune in Sweden where Pelle grew up with Pelle, Mark and Josh for a few weeks. Suffice to say he neglected to inform Dani of this. If you know anything about relationships, Dani is going to Sweden with the boys. When the gang arrives in Stockholm, they have a 5 hour drive to the isolated commune, so you know there's going to be trouble.
Upon arrival the gang starts taking drugs as it's a essentially a Swedish hippy commune. Between the drugs and the weird rituals, things start to breakdown. Dani slowly descends into madness; Christian and Josh are at odds and Mark is basically a putz. Things get weirder and weirder around the commune. Mark and Josh go missing along with an english couple brought by Pelle's brother Ingemar. Christian gets picked as a mate for a young girl and partakes in the sexual ritual with the female elders under the influence of psychedelics. Meanwhile Dani, also under the influence, wins the May Queen competition and catches Christian having sex. The film ends with a ritual sacrifice and Dani's grip on sanity loosening.
First and foremost, this film is weird. It keeps your attention but it is weird. Aster is one f*cked-up mofo with the things that are floating around in his head. The only major problem is the runtime. The film clocks in at 147 minutes. I was never looking at my watch but there are some scenes that could have been cut to make the film a bit more efficient at 105-120 minutes. There was a plot line about incest that never really panned out in my book. That could have been cut. Other than that the film was well acted and Aster really dialed up the tension. Beautiful cinematography. Creepy score.
The film received an 83% Rotten Tomatoes rating which is about right but I liked this film a bit more than Hereditary which received a higher rating. The thing that got me about the picture, the same happened with Hereditary, is the post film discussions my wife and I had two days after viewing it. We were debating about whether or not Pelle had planned to bring Dani or some of Ingemar's decisions. That's a sign of quality film, you're still talking about it days after you've seen it. Aster, much like Jordan Peele, is a filmmaker that needs to be followed. Aster is a bit more off the beaten path than Peele but both have weird sh*t in their heads. This film may not be for everyone and the runtime may turn people off but it's worth the time to see it. Check it out.
Upon arrival the gang starts taking drugs as it's a essentially a Swedish hippy commune. Between the drugs and the weird rituals, things start to breakdown. Dani slowly descends into madness; Christian and Josh are at odds and Mark is basically a putz. Things get weirder and weirder around the commune. Mark and Josh go missing along with an english couple brought by Pelle's brother Ingemar. Christian gets picked as a mate for a young girl and partakes in the sexual ritual with the female elders under the influence of psychedelics. Meanwhile Dani, also under the influence, wins the May Queen competition and catches Christian having sex. The film ends with a ritual sacrifice and Dani's grip on sanity loosening.
First and foremost, this film is weird. It keeps your attention but it is weird. Aster is one f*cked-up mofo with the things that are floating around in his head. The only major problem is the runtime. The film clocks in at 147 minutes. I was never looking at my watch but there are some scenes that could have been cut to make the film a bit more efficient at 105-120 minutes. There was a plot line about incest that never really panned out in my book. That could have been cut. Other than that the film was well acted and Aster really dialed up the tension. Beautiful cinematography. Creepy score.
The film received an 83% Rotten Tomatoes rating which is about right but I liked this film a bit more than Hereditary which received a higher rating. The thing that got me about the picture, the same happened with Hereditary, is the post film discussions my wife and I had two days after viewing it. We were debating about whether or not Pelle had planned to bring Dani or some of Ingemar's decisions. That's a sign of quality film, you're still talking about it days after you've seen it. Aster, much like Jordan Peele, is a filmmaker that needs to be followed. Aster is a bit more off the beaten path than Peele but both have weird sh*t in their heads. This film may not be for everyone and the runtime may turn people off but it's worth the time to see it. Check it out.
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