 Thank you for checking out this no spoilers review of the Ari Aster film from 2019. Yes right now Mid-summer. Yes. I just saw this film literally less than an hour ago. I got out of the theater. I Apologize up front. I may sound a little bit out of the breath My face might be a little bit red because I was outside I had to take care of some manual labor-ish stuff before doing this, but I wanted to get this as soon as possible I say this is no spoilers There might be some light thematic spoilers in a sense It's not going to spoil anything that like actually happens in the film There's a little bit of theme that I'm going to talk about so just I guess be a little bit cautious, but anyway, um, I Will say I was a fan of hereditary. I saw it in the theater when I first saw it I know when I was done in the theater. I heard a lot of people standing up saying that sucked. I liked it Ari Aster the way he makes films. It's a thinking person's film So I know there are people when they check out horror. They just want straight-up horror They want everything just like there in your face like something like slasher slashers are usually just it's face value It's what's going on what you see on the screen is what's going on There's no deeper meaning you don't have to piece things together with like hereditary You really had to piece a bunch of stuff together and there were a lot of you know extra themes for people to kind of figure out and Mid-summer is the same way that is the type of filmmaker that Ari Aster is it is confirmed With the second film house because sometimes you know the first film they do a one way then after that They're gonna do it differently. I don't know but mid-summer is that way. I understand why people don't like it I Really did enjoy it for probably some of the reasons people didn't really like it It's not a typical horror film in addition to having themes that you really need to think about It stands at odds with a lot of typical horror things like for one Usually horror films are in the dark or a lot of portions of of the terror terrific or terrifying things or Disturbing or disgusting things are in the dark with this film It's almost all in the light and the terrible stuff happens in the Sun and it looks beautiful and it looks amazing The other thing is music a lot of the times will give you You know auditory cues of here's how you're supposed to feel that here's music. That's horrific Here's music that's uplifting and beautiful and awesome and there's a clash in this film of that type of stuff When there's some really horrible stuff going on there's beautiful amazing just light cheery music going on and At other times there's that you know darker music But but it's this kind of like horror trope clashing or typical horror Stuff done clashing in in mid-summer and that's one of the things I really like about Ari Aster is He's not just gonna be like oh, this is what you do with the horror film. He's gonna do his own thing so If I have a criticism of two criticisms of this film actually one there's some there's some CGI in it and There are a few moments if you really look where the CGI looks a little bit wonky Which I'm assuming is probably just because this is a film put out by like a 24 Studios and I don't really think that a 24 has like a ton of money So the budget for what he had to do was probably pretty tight. So You know, whatever the other thing is I I know some people have been complaining about the length of the film It is over two hours It's probably like about an hour and 20 or something and then you throw trailers at the beginning of that and you're in The theater for quite some time I Do think it definitely could have been cut down It definitely could have been edited down probably should have been edited down I can't really say how much I probably have to watch in another time to get a good idea for that But I I agree with people on that criticism with the film But for having watched it once it doesn't really kill me, you know, like I can get over that It's fine. Plus with with how slowly it moves and it does move slowly That's another thing I think people probably don't like about it But I'm fine with that because I felt like it gave you more time to connect with the characters more time to have the Situations sink in and I think that with the directing style and acting and the writing with it It did a really good job of kind of keeping attention like sorry Jocelyn keeping like a low level tension throughout it where What you're experiencing you really don't know what's gonna happen next because it's very very foreign to you as an audience member That you're experiencing things that you've not experienced before you so you really don't know where things are going or what's gonna happen I did guess some of the stuff early on that would happen in the end But I didn't know how you're gonna get there and you can't see everything coming It's just not possible with this film So I really liked how it keeps that tension of like anything could happen any moment So when things pop up you're kind of like oh, you know, there it is. I wasn't expecting that I didn't know so you just kind of have this feeling like something's going on so they have these little moments where along with the characters you kind of See things going wrong and you're just or see things are a little bit off and you're just kind of like oh Okay, now I know now. I know it's gonna get there. I know something's gonna happen But you just don't know when it's gonna happen and that's kind of nice Um Thematically speaking, I think this film can play on two main levels. I think one it works as a film about Terrible relationships Relationships that you're in that you're just kind of doing it because you feel like you should be doing it and not necessarily that you want to be in it or that it's actually a relationship for you and How that is it's kind of the the entire movie can be seen as like a metaphor for that terrible relationship Where there are these moments where you're you're going through and you you see these little things that are just kind of like off And and it makes you start to think like oh, you know, maybe I should get out of here Maybe I should leave but then something wonderful happens It just kind of like pulls you right back in and that happens in this film And so you just kind of like brush off the thing that you saw that where you were just like Oh, I don't know about this maybe I should be getting getting out of here and then it also speaks to the destruction that can be caused of Of You know when these relationships go poorly and it's not just the people in it. It's people around it And in the end, you know If you if you're able to get out of the relationship in whatever way or if the relationship ends or anything There is catharsis There's the ability to kind of look back and say oh, you know that wasn't for me But when you're going through it it's terrible And I think it they hit in the film all the span of emotions And it keeps showing you this turmoil of How like I feel like I should be in this relationship because there's this good thing and this good thing But then there's this bad thing over here But then oh i'm distracted this person did this really nice thing over here That's just gonna bring me back in and people just tell me like I should be in a relationship And maybe this is where i'm supposed to be but then there's this person over here That's like telling me that they kind of might want me and so I think it plays very well as a whole metaphor for Bad relationships relationships you convince yourself to be in Against your own will basically The other way I think this works is way more controversial and that is from a religious aspect of People and their beliefs and whatever religion they they subscribe prescribed to Of You know as as an audience member I will say watching this film you're experiencing kind of a religion in a sense A community a religion like they do things differently And to you a lot of it's very confusing. It doesn't make sense. It's funny at times. It's terrifying at times It's weird at times. It's very beautiful and peaceful at times And that's kind of the audience what you're experienced through watching this film Is kind of the experience that outsiders of a religion experience You know, they're looking into it and they're not seeing what the people in it are seeing at the same time and But you also get the glimpses of and some dialogue related to How the people in that religion in that community feel about it and how they're just like Well, this is how it is like this is just and whenever you as an audience member are kind of questioning it and you're just like Oh, yeah, that doesn't seem right or that's not good or uh that they're just kind of like well I mean this is how it is and so it works on this level of You know showing you what religion Looks like from the outside And what what insulated communities look like from the outside and feel like as well And I think it also kind of then focuses on this Unless you're a believer of whatever religion or whatever, you know beliefs or community Then you look at it as crazy. You look at it as this doesn't compute. This is wrong. This is messed up But when you're in it you do everything you can to Make it look a certain way to be as nice to to other people as possible to make it look enticing And figure out a way to kind of pull people in or save people or however it's done Within the religion. So I think it also plays that way So I could see people if they pick up on that Or if they feel the film kind of plays with that theme that they would be very turned off because it's a very touchy subject Me personally. I'm actually agnostic. I don't believe anything really I just feel like I don't know what to believe, you know, I feel like most likely nothing is correct. Like no religions are right Probability wise. So for me, it's kind of weird because watching this film like the way I felt as an audience member watching it Is kind of in a very pared down way Um kind of how I feel looking at any religion because I don't have one You know my my set of beliefs and who I am is is very unique because it's just me basically So, you know and to other people looking at me like that looks weird That's that's very foreign. It doesn't make sense and sometimes could probably feel very wrong So Yeah, so there we go. Um, I'm trying to think the acting was really well handled in this It looks beautiful. It really looks beautiful and they really took their time. There are a lot of really nice wide shots The the scenery is amazing there. The costuming was really well done The directing is is great and so from like a technical standpoint except that little cgi issue and from it being a bit too long I think it's really well executed the story. Like I said I see where a lot of people are not going to like that story But I really liked it There's some humor written in there to kind of give people reprieve from time to time and that's really cool too like It's hard to appropriately mix humor in especially with a horror film and I think it was done well Um, so that's basically all I have to say about that But I did want to tell people this little story My buddy and I were were watching that in the theater and there was one couple In the theater with us and there's that was it for the for the amount of people seeing the film So I wish there were more people seeing this film But uh, it was a very old couple and they were talking loudly during the film And it was actually pretty funny because there were things like is this movie supposed to be scary and the response was Yeah, I think at some point And then during you know one of the long stretches because it takes a while to get into the film Like get things kind of like rolling. Uh, there was a question of um, is this supposed to or um Oh, this is a lovely film. It's nothing like the write-up And I'm like what's it's gonna get there if you read the write-up It's gonna get there obviously, but it was just really funny and then at the end the uh, the couple stopped by us and said Um, we're gonna tell our kids to see this, but they were joking. They were being very sarcastic And I'm like, what did we watch and I'm sure there were plenty of people who kind of felt that way What did we watch but uh, my buddy Jordan had said it at when we were walking out He's like I feel like I want to watch every movie like that with an old couple and just hear that because it was pretty funny Um, but anyway, yeah, just a little anecdote there So anyway, I greatly did enjoyed this film. Is it perfect? Absolutely not, but is it really good in my opinion? Yes, it's very good. I don't know if it's done in a way that Warrants a rewatch for me Or I like I I liked enjoying Enjoying it and I think I can maybe watch it one more time But I don't think it has a ton of rewatch value because it's mainly in In The end like like getting it at the end figuring out what it's all about at the end So I could probably watch it one more time to see if there were like certain things here and there that I missed or didn't miss Um, and I will say actually there if you pay very close attention There are a bunch of things that happen that really signal to you what is going to happen You really need to be keen and look for it and um There's actually a very strong visual cue if you keep that in your mind that basically Tells you the whole movie before you see it And I'm that's all I'm gonna say about it You might pick up on it and then one other little thing like I know that filmmakers like to put little nods to other films in Their films and I think I think there was a nod to the shining Because there was a blanket at one point where someone has a pattern that looks very similar Not color wise, but just pat shapes wise a pattern similar to the carpet pattern in the shining So maybe I'm wrong, but that's what it looked like to me Anyway, uh, we'd love to hear other people's opinions on this film put your comments down there Did you like mid-summer? Did you hate it? How did you feel about um the themes and everything? What did you pull out of it because you know, maybe what I was saying themes wise is totally wrong I don't know that's just how it played out to me But please give me a subscribe if you like anything that I do Pass the word along about this channel and definitely those comments. I want to hear what you thought Anyway, thank you for checking this out and until next time keep it brutal