MIDSOMMAR (2019)—Ingmar Bergman told me there’d be days like these

Cinema of Cruelty (Movies for Masochists)

On this week’s annotated deep dive, The Cultists Present Ari Aster’s ‘Midsommar’ (2019). The horror genre has long been a place of shadows. And yet, what happens when those horrors are brought into direct light? Can grief, heartbreak, graduate thesis work, and human sacrifice all still thrive under the warm glowing rays of the midnight sun? Aster’s sophomore film sets forth to find out. As such, London and Benji welcome in the encroaching autumn with a scenic tour through the incredible landscape of Aster’s re-imagined lore-laden fairy tale. (Because nothing says “summer” like downing home grown psychedelics in the warm lit sunshine with a folksy Swedish death cult.)

(Topics include: allusions and inspirations from Swedish folk artists (John Bauer to Hilma af Klint); the challenge of filming in the bright outdoors; and so much Nordic folklore (Ättestupa, the old “blood eagle,” runes, beserkers, and more!)

Episode Safeword: “metropolitan”