Year: 2019
Country: U.S.
Subgenre: Folk Horror
Runtime: 172 minutes
Director: Ari Aster
It's not the usual thing for me to recommend a director's cut (or any other edits) of a film over all the other versions. But...Ari Aster's extended cut of his brightly lit summer horror of 2019 is a singular case. Like the filmmaker himself, whose horror films are very different from any others, his original edit of Midsommar is as different from the theatrical than any other "director's cut" I have seen. The cut extends the movie by some 20 plus minutes, and many have complained at two and half hours long, the theatrical is WAY too long; but what's odd (at least in my experience) is that the nearly 3 hour long version actually seems shorter. One of the principle things that Aster's original cut does is explain the story more. In at least two of the added scenes a couple of characters actually articulate that they think they are dealing with a cult and not some remnant of an ancient religion surviving in the post-modern world. It is also in these scenes that the viewer is introduced to the behavior of "testing" by the cult. I am quite sure that the members would describe what they are engaging in as "trickster behavior" in the honor of Loki, but there is something very psychological about it--a behavior that could only have come from modernity. Also, if you are really familiar with the film, there is little doubt that actual supernatural things begin to happen in the progression of the midsummer festival. Like, for example, when Dani (Florence Pugh) can suddenly speak Swedish. The extended version drives this home in a fashion more obvious to the viewer. Whatever is going on with the horror that only humans can wrought, there is something else at work as well. This is when the viewer begins to suspect that, yeah, maybe this is a extension of the ancient...or maybe the Nordic gods are real....or hell, maybe it's just the devil or demonic....or something! Or...blame it on the hallucinogens. This in no way diminshes from central theme of the human capacity for dangerous delusion in the film. Aster's work (all of it) is deeply rooted in family horror. I can think of no other director, horror or otherwise, that has mastered the art of family terror better than he has. If you have seen his Hereditary, then you are familiar with it. But he made a number of short films in the early 2010's that speak to his mind-set on family angst and abuse even more so. I embed a recommendation of his short Munchausen in my recommendation of Hereditary. But his two films with actor Billy Mayo, Beau and The Strange Thing About The Johnsons really highlight his fears that domestication is something sinister (at best!). The ending of Midsommar comes off almost as a "happy ending" as Dani finds a home, but given his past films on the subject, it should, I argue, be viewed with a serious sense of dread. That is made a little more clear in this version. Last, but certainly not least, I regard this film as fine remake of The Wicker Man. And I know I'm droning, but this edit comes in it's own packaging, complete with stunning artwork. It's almost worth the $40+ just for that alone!
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| Photo of my copy of the film's packaging |
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