Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019)

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mfunk9786
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Re: Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019)

#101 Post by mfunk9786 » Thu Jul 11, 2019 5:32 pm

Adding another half hour gets it up to “Avengers: Endgame” level length. And we’re not talking about 30 minutes of superhero action, either. Whatever is in those 30 minutes is likely going to be more brutality and grotesque images that you’ll have to ask yourself if you really need.
Online film journalism is a garbage heap

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Big Ben
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Re: Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019)

#102 Post by Big Ben » Thu Jul 11, 2019 6:07 pm

mfunk9786 wrote:
Thu Jul 11, 2019 5:32 pm
Online film journalism is a garbage heap
Apologies! If you think that's bad be sure to avoid some comment sections about the film.

Bloody Disgusting did made a point (In a much better NSFW article with spoilers!) in saying that the MPAA had a bit of a fit with the film and that Aster fought it for six weeks after they gave it an NC-17 rating.

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Finch
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Re: Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019)

#103 Post by Finch » Thu Jul 11, 2019 6:41 pm

A website dedicated to horror and gore implicitly complaining that the film had "gratuitous" full frontal nudity? Severed heads and intestines being pulled out they can live with, but half a minute or so of Jack Raynor's cock is too much? :roll:

I'd be surprised if A24 agree to a theatrical rollout for this extended cut. The film isn't as successful as Hereditary commercially and I like the film but I think I'd prefer watching it again in the comfort of my home, especially if it runs to three hours.

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Re: Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019)

#104 Post by mfunk9786 » Thu Jul 11, 2019 7:22 pm

Something tells me that 30 minutes didn't need to be yanked out because of the MPAA, but because of A24. And the film's still too long. Would be curious to see this cut but it's not necessarily a sign of Aster's restraint that he's talking about lengthening a film that's already pretty sluggish in parts.

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Mr Sausage
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Re: Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019)

#105 Post by Mr Sausage » Thu Jul 11, 2019 8:00 pm

I wonder if this new cut will address characters getting lost for significant parts of the movie (Will Poulter all but disappears after the first hour or so).

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Re: Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019)

#106 Post by mfunk9786 » Fri Jul 12, 2019 10:54 am

Mr Sausage wrote:
Thu Jul 11, 2019 8:00 pm
I wonder if this new cut will address characters getting lost for significant parts of the movie (Will Poulter all but disappears after the first hour or so).
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Isn't that by design of the plot? He is disappeared after peeing on the tree trunk, but isn't necessarily an integral part of the narrative prior to that

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Mr Sausage
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Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019)

#107 Post by Mr Sausage » Fri Jul 12, 2019 11:27 am

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I meant before the tree; he largely disappears except for a small moment of him working up the courage to talk to some girl we never see again.

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Re: Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019)

#108 Post by mfunk9786 » Fri Jul 12, 2019 12:22 pm

Funny how the glass is half empty/full with regard to the film's length, because you reminding me of that just makes me want to cut the film down, not add more back in

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Finch
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Re: Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019)

#109 Post by Finch » Fri Jul 12, 2019 2:49 pm

^ Aster should have done another draft of this at script stage, really. You and I were having concerns over this after Peele with his second film, Us. The other couple and Poulter's character were pretty unnecessary. Aster could have just given their lines etc to the Josh character and to Christian. I also think Pelle should have played a more proactive role in convincing them to stay after the deaths of the old couple (at least I don't remember him doing anything to that effect). When the film works, it works like gangbusters so it's all the more annoying that it gets sidetracked by characters and subplots that don't matter in the grand scheme of things.

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Re: Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019)

#110 Post by HJackson » Sat Jul 13, 2019 5:50 pm

The Will Poulter character was one of the few bright spots in this otherwise quite tedious and predictable film. Was nice to see Aster introduce a measure of levity to the proceedings, of which Poulter was the major source, so he’s one of the few elements I’m glad didn’t see the cutting room floor. The whole controversy with the thesis on the other hand added nothing to the film, other than a thin justification for the attendance of two of the characters - a justification that becomes quite risible once they get a feel for what exactly is going on. In that sense beefing up the Pelle role in the aftermath of the initial ceremony would have made sense.

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Re: Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019)

#111 Post by mfunk9786 » Mon Jul 15, 2019 10:43 am

Is there some other film/TV show that people know Will Poulter from? I've seen him name dropped specifically with regard to this film a bunch, and I can't say he stood out to me in any way relative to any of his other buddies as someone who'd never seen him before.

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Re: Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019)

#112 Post by DarkImbecile » Mon Jul 15, 2019 10:44 am

I think of him as the most virulently racist of the cops in Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit.

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Mr Sausage
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Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019)

#113 Post by Mr Sausage » Mon Jul 15, 2019 11:40 am

Like most on here, I only know him from when everyone on the forum was openly confused when he was initially cast as Pennywise in It.

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Re: Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019)

#114 Post by mfunk9786 » Mon Jul 15, 2019 11:49 am

Okay. Maybe it's just my imagination, but here and elsewhere I've just seen a lot of "Will Poulter's character was particularly interesting" or some version of that, so I was convinced he was some kind of big deal in some property I'm not familiar with, or famous for some other reason outside of acting. Guessing it's just an instance of my not seeing a very good performance for being a very good performance.

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Re: Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019)

#115 Post by Mr Sausage » Mon Jul 15, 2019 3:25 pm

It was a good comic performance. Don’t know if I’d go beyond that, tho’.

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Re: Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019)

#116 Post by DarkImbecile » Tue Jul 16, 2019 6:04 pm

The three-hour director's cut will debut at Lincoln Center in August
Film at Lincoln Center announces Scary Movies XII, the 12th edition of New York City’s top horror festival, August 16-21...

Highlights of the lineup include the World Premiere of Ari Aster’s Director’s Cut of Midsommar, a nearly three-hour extended version of the widely acclaimed folk horror film with Aster in person for Q&A...

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Orson Kane
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Re: Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019)

#117 Post by Orson Kane » Wed Jul 17, 2019 4:45 am

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Could anyone clarify, how was Simon supposed to be alive?

I clearly saw and heard the lungs breathing in and out.

However, he was missing his eyes (replaced with flowers) and had been flayed. How was he still breathing without food and water and the massive blood loss from the removal of his body parts and eyes?

A lot of reviews seemed to indicate he was dead but I'm certain I saw the lungs breathing in and out.

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Re: Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019)

#118 Post by domino harvey » Wed Jul 17, 2019 4:47 am

Please remember to use spoiler tags, people!

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Big Ben
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Re: Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019)

#119 Post by Big Ben » Wed Jul 17, 2019 6:11 am

Orson Kane wrote:
Wed Jul 17, 2019 4:45 am
SpoilerShow
Could anyone clarify, how was Simon supposed to be alive?

I clearly saw and heard the lungs breathing in and out.

However, he was missing his eyes (replaced with flowers) and had been flayed. How was he still breathing without food and water and the massive blood loss from the removal of his body parts and eyes?

A lot of reviews seemed to indicate he was dead but I'm certain I saw the lungs breathing in and out.
Technically yes? It's a deep dive though.
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What on's on display is a supposed form of torture used by Vikings known as the Blood Eagle. It involved making an incision on the back and pulling out the lungs in such a way that they'd remain functional while the unfortunate victim suffered for a period of time and then died. While the historical veracity of the Blood Eagle is open to debate it's existence in ancient text is references to it go back nearly twelve hundred years. While it's entirely possible it was a Christian invention to scare local pearl clutchers Aster's use of it in this film is not out of place from a folklore standpoint.

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Re: Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019)

#120 Post by DarkImbecile » Thu Jul 18, 2019 12:45 pm


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Re: Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019)

#121 Post by mfunk9786 » Thu Jul 18, 2019 12:49 pm

Gotta love an absolutely horrifying image with the caption "Not a real head!" - thanks for letting us know, Vulture

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Re: Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019)

#122 Post by jazzo » Thu Jul 18, 2019 7:17 pm

Robert Eggers and Ari Aster interview each other here

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Re: Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019)

#123 Post by DarkImbecile » Mon Aug 19, 2019 11:16 am

David Ehrlich breaks down the new footage in the director’s cut

I’m not reading the detailed description because I’d like to see it first, but from Ehrlich’s more high-level take, the re-edit sounds promising:
Aster appears to have a very clear-eyed view of his own work, especially for someone who couldn’t be closer to it. He introduced the new cut of “Midsommar” as “the more complete version of this film,” conceding that the “theatrical cut may have better pacing, but this is the fuller picture.” And that turned out to be a spot-on summation of what he then unveiled to the crowd.

The director’s cut of “Midsommar” isn’t a radically different movie, but it’s a much richer one; some of the added moments are less vital than others, but all of them help to create a more textured experience, and — perhaps most importantly — give you the time required to fall even deeper under its harsh psychedelic spell. “If a movie is good, I want to stay in it,” Aster said before the screening. And “Midsommar” now grants you that wish. Aster’s new edit might raise some eyebrows, but this is what a director’s cut should be.

Unlike Sergio Leone with “Once Upon a Time in America,” Aster hasn’t made any major structural changes to the movie; unlike James Cameron with “The Abyss,” he hasn’t introduced a radically different ending, or provided new information that might transform the core essence of what we know about any of the major characters. With two crucial exceptions, most of the new material is sewn into pre-existing scenes. Casual fans might not be able to flag the bits they haven’t seen before, while first-time viewers would be hard-pressed to identify which parts were deemed extraneous for the theatrical cut.

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Re: Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019)

#124 Post by Boosmahn » Tue Aug 20, 2019 11:16 am

The Lionsgate Blu-ray (which releases on October 1) will not include the director's cut. Do we have an estimate for the turnaround on this? I'd rather not double-dip in the span of a few months...

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Big Ben
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Re: Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019)

#125 Post by Big Ben » Tue Aug 20, 2019 11:21 am

Boosmahn wrote:
Tue Aug 20, 2019 11:16 am
The Lionsgate Blu-ray (which releases on October 1) will not include the director's cut. Do we have an estimate for the turnaround on this? I'd rather not double-dip in the span of a few months...
It was to my understanding that there wasn't any information about it available at this time and that the first disc release would be pretty bare bones. But I think you've unintentionally answered your own question as this is absolutely something I can see being re-released six months down the line with new packaging and the Director's Cut. Something something capitalism. Something something creating demand. That sort of thing.

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