Ari Aster’s Midsommar is considered to be a modern horror masterpiece, but the movie’s ghastly introduction would have more impact if it stood on its own as a short film and not the movie’s opening—here’s why.
Ari Aster has already made an impressive name for himself as a horror director with an unflinching eye for the uncomfortable. Both Hereditary and Midsommar are formative genre films that hint at a major talent that’s breaking out in a big way. Midsommar has gained a lot of acclaim, but one deterrent that’s been addressed by some audiences is the movie’s lengthy run time.
Midsommar is the kind of horror film that succeeds based off of the unnerving atmosphere that it creates. It’s important to get lost in the experience, much like how Dani (Florence Pugh) does. The major source of conflict is introduced once Dani and her friends are indoctrinated into the Hårga cult. However, the movie’s introduction is disturbing in an entirely different way, which helps set the tone, but adds to what’s an already long film. This somewhat isolated tragedy kicks off the movie with a memorable start, but the tone and subject matter make it feel much more suitable as one of Ari Aster’s brutal short films.
Hereditary is the feature film that helped put Ari Aster on the map, but he’s also responsible for a number of short films, which are arguably even bleaker than his movies. Aster’s short films, like The Strange Thing About the Johnsons and Munchausen, tackle themes that are prevalent in his full-length movies. The dissolution of family and the dark secrets that can brew under a seemingly idyllic image are present in nearly all of Aster’s work. His short films are able to narrow in on specific aspects of this and give them an unbearable focus. Midsommar’s introduction is no different, wherein Dani learns of her sister’s gruesome suicide and the subsequent loss of her entire family.
Midsommar’s introduction contains some highly powerful imagery, and Dani’s loss of her family is fundamental to the metamorphosis that she experiences during her time with the Hårga. That being said, Dani could still suffer this loss, but in a subtler fashion that speeds up the movie. Visions of this tragedy could strike Dani during her drug hallucinations and be interspersed with the film rather than dominate the entire opening of the movie. This also would speed up the film and get Dani and company to Sweden much faster, which is where the chaos really begins.
A stark short film about depression, obligation, and guilt feels like a suitable companion piece to the rest of Aster’s short film oeuvre. It’s the same dissection of internalized pain. Despite how a leaner and more cryptic version of Midsommar could result in a better film, the movie’s length of nearly two-and-a-half hours clearly didn’t bother everyone since a director’s cut that’s nearly three hours long was released. More horror can sometimes be a good thing, but in this case, allowing the introduction to stand on its own could give both it and the edited film a greater impact.
