“Midsommar."

“Midsommar” (2019, Max) surrealist folk horror film written and directed by Ari Aster and stars Florence Pugh and Jack Reynor as an American couple who are drawn into a weird and violent cult in rural Sweden. So that is called “surrealist folk horror,” uh huh. Surreal, indeed!

     This is an Ari Aster work. Aesthetic whackedness is expected. Weeks before, I saw his “Beau Is Weird,” and although Joaquin Phoenix's grip of his messed-up persona was incredible, that perfumed murk had no structure at all, if you ask me, though the overlying mental crisis theme was strong enough. “Midsommar” has more thought-flow or sane continuity. Yet still weird. Mr Aster doesn't have the fun fluidity and storytelling savvy of another albeit much better weird director, Wes Anderson. But Ari is better than Nicolas Winding Refn or John Waters, though the latter could be categorized in a weird sub-genre. 

     This movie's bizarreness isn't really a product of the writer/director's wild imagination. The cult here takes off from “Ättestupa,” a name given to a number of precipices in Sweden. The name supposedly denotes sites where ritual senicide took place during pagan Norse prehistoric times, whereby elderly people threw themselves, or were thrown, to their deaths. According to legend, this was done when old people were unable to support themselves or assist in a household.

     “Midsommar” is produced by the independent A24 Films, the New York-based outfit responsible for 2013's “A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III,” which I liked, and 2022's Oscar-winning “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” which won Best Picture and earned $100 million at the box office, an indie feat. But I didn't like it at all. Anyhow, you get the idea that Ari Aster has a home for his movies. Expect more. 🎥💻📽

MOVIE that I gave up: “Joker: Folie à Deux” (2024, Max) jukebox musical psychological thriller. Joaquin Phoenix reprises his role as the Joker, with Lady Gaga as his love interest. How to ruin a franchise? Make it a jukebox musical. 'Nuff said.