Midsommar Family Review

A couple travels to Northern Europe to visit a rural hometown's fabled Swedish mid-summer festival. What begins as an idyllic retreat quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult.Dani (Florence Pugh) and Christian (Jack Reynor) are a young American couple with a relationship on the brink of falling apart. But after a family tragedy keeps them together, Christian invites a grieving Dani to join him and his friends on a trip to a once-in-a-lifetime midsummer festival in a remote Swedish village. What begins as a carefree summer holiday in the North European land of eternal sunlight takes a sinister turn when the insular villagers invite their guests to partake in festivities that render the pastoral paradise increasingly unnerving and viscerally disturbing.—A24 ReleasingTraumatised and still struggling to come to terms with an appalling family tragedy, Dani, an American graduate student, turns to Christian, her self-centred and distant boyfriend, against the backdrop of their inevitable break-up. In high hopes of repairing their disintegrating relationship, Dani tags along with two of Christian's companions, and their cryptic friend, Pelle, to attend a once-every-ninety-years summer solstice festival at an isolated pagan commune nestled in the heart of the Swedish province of Hälsingland. At last, for the first time in a long while, Dani feels happy. However, in this friendly and verdant haven of peace, harmony, and constant sunshine, the welcoming community's peculiar traditions start to blemish the folkloric utopia, as the uncomfortable feeling of uneasiness starts to creep up on Pelle's guests. But, in the eyes of the uninitiated newcomers, the naturalistic rituals seem brutal. Could a numbing truth be hiding in plain sight?—Nick RiganasSeveral friends travel to northern Europe to study as anthropologists a Swedish summer festival that is held every ninety years in the remote hometown of one of them. What should have been a dream vacation in a place where the sun never sets, gradually turns into a dark nightmare as the mysterious inhabitants invite them to participate in their disturbing festive activities.—yusufpiskin