Silence Of The Midsommar Part 1

Don't give me another scene. Don't try to explain anything with another scene. Just go to black, and I want to see All I want to see right now is directed by Ari Aster. That's all I want to see! Give it to me, give it to me, give it to me, give it And they did, and I was like, YES! And I looked at mom and I said, I fucking loved it! Mom's like, WHAT? Mom's horrified, right? Poor mom has no fucking clue what I just went through as a film lover and a screenwriter. Mom's terrified! She's mortified! You are listening to the Silver Screen Happy Hour. I'm Chris Wiegand, along with my brother, Jerome. And I can honestly say that I think we had more fun on this episode than any other to date. There's probably a couple of reasons for that. We recorded it earlier in the year, just anticipating that we would release it on Halloween. We got into this and Midsommar and Silence of the Lambs are two of my brother's favorite movies. I, you know, I think he talks about, uh, the ranking of both in the podcast, but, uh, you'll, you'll hear it in his voice. He's just downright giddy as soon as we started recording and I enjoyed it. I just. I don't know, I think he nearly broke me, uh, in Silence of the Lambs, um. We recorded so long that as soon as we finished Midsommar, we realized we were way too long. So we decided this had to come out as a part one and part two. So instead of releasing them both on Halloween, we decided to release part one, Silence of the Midsommar part one, uh, which covers Midsommar. That's this episode. On Friday the 13th. And in a couple of weeks, we will release part two of Silence of the Midsommar on Halloween. And that one we will cover Silence of the Lambs. with that said, I'm gonna get the recording of our conversation on the film reel for you. And I just want to ask you to do one thing. If you are enjoying our show, share it with somebody and let us know. We would absolutely appreciate it. Alright, so what are the movies for today? And what are we drinking? Uh, well the movies, usually you're the one that... Let me just hand it back to you because you've been like chomping at the bit dying for this day. There is, there is no bit left to chomp. It's gone. I've swallowed it. That's how much I've been chomping at the bit for this day. This might rival the excitement I had for the Star Wars anniversary podcast. Um, today we are discussing two utter gems for me. Um, 1991's Silence of the Lambs, directed by Jonathan Demme, and 2019's Midsommar, directed by Ari Aster. Um, I have to say that these are two of my... Favorite films. Um, well I wouldn't say Midsommar's cracked like, like my top ten in any way, I don't think. Um, but it was certainly my favorite film of 2019. And I could not tell you how disappointed I was when it got zero Oscar nominations. Um, and, and, You know, recently I went back and looked at the Oscar nominations for that year. And I remember thinking it should have got a Best Picture nomination instead of that film. Or it should have gotten screenplay at least instead of that film. You know, I'm not gonna say which ones. But I definitely thought it deserved to be in there. And Florence Pugh should have been nominated for Best Actress in there somewhere. And I'm not saying she wins any of these. I'm not saying it wins at all. But to completely snub this film on an Oscar front is just... Yeah, so it's very fresh for me because I watched it twice yesterday, and I've been very disturbed today because I couldn't sleep last night. So were this the first two times watching it? Yeah, yeah, I had never saw it before. Oh my god. I, uh, so, let's start off by, well, let's start off with, what are we drinking? Let's do that first. Okay, alright, so I, um, I have to preface this by saying, I am backing up with beer. I do have beer today. Oh, don't mix. Don't mix. No, no, no. It's not about mixing. It's about in case this doesn't work out. Because I have... Wait, let me get it. Let me get it. Okay, I have in my possession, in honor of Silence of the Lambs, I bought a bottle of Chianti. A nice Chianti. From the famous line, A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti. Unfortunately, this is not a nice Chianti. This was on clearance at CVS Pharmacy for 5. 97. Probably worth every penny. You're Full disclosure. I'm not a wine guy. I'm really not. Shocker. So I don't, I don't expect this to turn out well. I'm going to have a glass and we'll see if I can even finish it. Um, but I do have my backup Mic Ultras ready. My, uh, my lightsabers. Um, so what are you drinking? So, I went with... Uh, one of my favorite breweries here in Michigan, Shorts Brewing Company. We've had them on before. Um, they should be paying us. I'm actually going to their brewery, uh, in June with Jesse and about four or six of our friends. And, uh, it's gonna be fun. But this beer is called Evil Urges. A Belgian, I wish it was Swedish, but it's not. It's a Belgian dark, uh, Belgian style dark ale brewed with amber. Candy sugar, whatever that is. So, it sounds sweet. We're gonna see. Oh, that sounded... I don't know what the ABV is. It doesn't say on the can, which is unusual. It's a very dark beer. Oh, that sounds thick. That's very thick. Very nice head. Oh man, it is sweet. Sounded like, like, like lecter just now. Oh, that is frickin tasty. Is it good? Oh, yeah. Mmm. I think it's a high ABV. I don't know what this is. I'm gonna have to look it up. Come on. I heard the pop. Did you get it? Yeah. Alright, now let's do a... Holy crap. What we would call a drone pour. Half the bottle. I really, I really shouldn't, not knowing what I'm getting myself into here. You probably, I don't know. You probably like them sweet, I bet, but... Is Chianti sweet? I don't know. I've never had Chianti before. I believe, I believe it's a dry red. I'm gonna go out on a limb and see if it wasn't for Salsa Lems. I don't know if I'd ever know what Chianti was. Taste it. Tell me, tell me. Okay, you ready? Let's take our first drink. You just went with yours. Oh, yeah. Alright, I'm going to try the Hannibal. I'm surprised that on my beer app, it only has a 3. 6 average rating. Shocks me. Okay. I would definitely give it over a four. Oh, I did. I've rated this before. I forgot I've had it. So I ra, I gave it a 4.25 so my taste hasn't changed. Okay, here we go. Are you ready? Mm-hmm. This is for Hannibal Lecter. Now the look on your face, I can't tell you if it's good or not because you don't know because I'm not a wine drinker, so it's not sweet. Right. To me, this could taste like absolute shit. I don't know. Compared to communion wine, what do you think? It tastes a lot like communion wine. Are you telling me they've been giving me Hannibal Lecter style Chianti in church every Sunday since I, since I had communion? Oh, I better not comment because I'll go to hell. Um, it's actually not bad. Now they said I did look up to whether or not to have it chilled or not and it said Chianti should be chilled. So I, I had. The bottle, and I kept it on its side to keep the cork moist, of course. You wine drinkers know what I'm talking about. Put it in the cooler, get it nice and cool. I even chilled my wine glass before I poured it in. So, you know, uh, it's one of those that it's, um, um, So, I don't know if I'm... The look on your face! We got... I don't know if I'm gonna finish the glass. I'm certainly not going to finish the bottle, I could tell you that much. I will eventually switch to beer, in which case you will hear the cracking of my can open. Um, but I had to, in honor of Lector, I had to give it a try. Yeah, absolutely. Um, where do we start? Because, let me, let's start with some disclaimers. Uh, if you've been traumatized by a serial killer, you might be triggered. Um, if you have a friend in a cult, you might be triggered. Uh, in the, there's, we're going to talk about suicide. That's a trigger. I mean, it's, it's, and who's not affected by suicide now? Um, so there's a lot of things. Especially. How graphic this one goes. Oh, so yeah, let's do you want to start with Midsommar? Actually. Yeah, that's fine. I don't care I really don't care. Let's start with Midsommar. Before you jump in Let me just let me just say out the gate cuz I just watched it So I passively watched it the first time I was busy doing other things while it was on But I was I was trying to take some in knowing I was gonna rewatch it later And then I rewatched it knowing what I was in for Probably not the best way to take in a movie, but um, But I was able to, I was able to catch some things the second time that I missed. I was gonna say, it's better the second time around. Yeah, um, but I, I would So, I told you I was texting you, and uh, I said, I gave it an F, and then I said, oh, the, I meant F, E F F, it was EFT. It was an EFT movie. When I first got that message from you, I give it an F, I was like, is he out of his mind? Are we watching the same movie? So, here's the thing though. It is an effed up movie. Yes. I'm censoring myself here. I don't know why it's an effed up movie. It demands the F word. Um, I will do that for you. So, but, I will, I agree with you. That it was snubbed 100%. It was snubbed at the Oscars. I, I don't know why it wasn't nominated. Cause I, I do believe it's a horror masterpiece. I mean, it's, it's, it was brilliant. I mean, the directing, the sound. So many, even the visuals when they were on their highs, their trips. Yeah, yeah. There's some mushroom trips. Oh, here's another thing. Yeah, so if you've been triggered by a bad acid trip or a bad mushroom trip, don't watch this movie. I'm just going to tell you right now, do not watch this movie. I did acid in high school and I was like, I was having flashbacks of like some rough trip bad. Will, Will, Will Poulter's character is, uh, Um, I hope I'm, I hope I'm pronouncing that right. I hope, uh, cause, uh, I, I believe, uh, I, I, is he European? I think he's European in real life. But, so, I might be, I mean, he might have a European sounding last name, but Will Poulter for, as far as, It's written. Um, he's, he's the comic relief of this movie pretty much. And when he's like, they're having their trip and he's all, oh man, there's a new person coming. I can't take any more new people. And that is 100 percent real. Anyone that's done, anyone that's done hallucinogens knows you can't, you can't add a new person to a trip. It's just, it's just, it'll go bad. Yeah. Oh my gosh. So. But yeah, I, I think in, like, um, the visuals, like you said, like, um, so to have a horror movie that is 100 percent set in the daytime is unusual. It's bright and sunny in just about every scene. I mean, there's some indoor scenes that aren't as bright. Or actually, I should, I should take that back. In the very beginning of the movie, it's dark. Well, and there's, and, and, there is a nighttime scene. Yeah, but it's, But almost virtually nothing happens. No, no, I mean when she has her nightmare, it's dark out, but it's all of, it's all of a two minute nightmare that she has. And I, and I want to say, well, no, no, no, there is another part. Um, uh, we'll, we'll get to it. It's, it's one of the, it's one of the murders. But anyway, um, again, full disclosure, we're going to have to talk endings. Oh, we got to spoil this one. So if you, if you plan on watching this, just shut it off right now. Go watch it and come back to the podcast because we're going to ruin it for you if you, if you want to surprise. And as far as Sons of Lambs goes, I mean, come on, that's what, 30 years ago now? Yes, long time ago. So, so you, you obviously everyone has, should have seen it or at least knows. The gist of what happens in the movie, um, also, uh, it's fair to mention that, um, we've brought up Midsommar in previous podcasts, and I remember saying, uh, when we talk about great writing and like how it ends and you know when the ending is, it's perfect, it's so perfect that remember you saying that, so when it happened, I'm like, yep. That, that was perfect. Credits roll. Roll the credits now. Don't add another scene. Roll the credits right now. It's perfect. And it ends so, I mean, God, what, and talk about a coming out party for Florence Pugh. Uh, she was also in the, uh, a remake of the film Little Women that year. Jesse reminded me of that. And that just splashed her all over the map. So, I mean, and of course now she's, you know, she's in Marvel movies now, and now she's going to be in the Dune sequel. Another person I did not know that was in this, because I hadn't seen it, William Jackson Harper, who also is in The Good Place, loved that show. Our family loves that show. That's made by the, what's his name, who made the, The Office and Parks and Rec. Oh right, um, the guy who plays Mose? Yeah, he plays Mose, yeah. But anyways, William Jackson Harper, great actor, and he played a great part in this movie. And he is, uh, he, he's, um, what's his name in the movie? What's his name in the movie? It is, uh, Josh. They just call him Josh. Oh right, he plays Josh. No, he, yeah, that's right. He plays Josh. So there are, uh, for anyone that doesn't know, we'll recap this basically. There's, um, there's these four friends. Christian, Josh, Uh, Pele and, uh, Will Poulter's character, Mark. Mark. Every time I mention him he's funny because he brings so much comedy to the movie. Yeah. But, so, they are planning this. I bet he pissed on the ancestral tree. The ancestral tree. That guy's gonna kill me, isn't he? Yeah. Later, Ulf, Ulf is staring him down. He's like, looks like somebody's still pissed about the ancestral tree. Um. And he's like, is he gonna kill me? Anyway, um, so, oddly enough, he had no idea how true that was. So, um, so these four guys are planning the Swedish trip. The movie opens, though, the movie is not from their point of view. It's, it's Danny Arter, uh, Danielle Arter. She is played by Florence Pugh. She's the lead in the film. She suffers a, a tragic event. Like, it can all, we'll get into it in a second. But, uh, the most, uh, horrific way to open a film. Um, and, and then... She finds out that her boyfriend, her rather uncaring boyfriend, who's been planning on breaking up with her, behind her back, he talks to his friends about how he's wanted to break up with her for about a year. He's quite a douche. Yeah, the trauma she goes through at the beginning now is going to affect that. It's a bummer for Christian now, he can't break up with her. You know, like, it's all, you know, oh no, now I can't break up with her, I have to... Be there for her or whatever. Well, I'll add, I'll add also like his friends were also kind of, I mean, they're, they weren't jerks. They seem like decent guys. They're a bunch of college college kids or, you know, probably in graduate school. I think they were talking about dissertations for their, their graduate degree or whatever, but, um, but they, they were pretty shallow and like, they were just kind of cold about his, his relationship with her. So they, so they set the tone right at that beginning about them kind of shit talking her, you know, her. Yeah, she's emotional and all this stuff. So they kind of had a bro thing going on and you kind of felt like oh, yeah, they don't They're not in it for the relationship, right? There's, there's even a line in there that I believe Mark gives when they're at the bar. And he says, just drop her or something. And he goes, and then you know what, maybe you'll meet a chick who likes to have sex. And it's just one line. It's a throwaway line. It's a loaded line. But you start to get the sense that, you know, Florence Pugh's character, Danny, she has trouble. Opening up, you know, has trouble with, trouble with, uh, uh, affection and closeness. Maybe she has trouble opening up with douchebags. Yeah, and, and maybe just a tad, and maybe just a tad prudish or maybe even on the virgin side. We don't know. It's just a line that indicates that the sexual history between her and her boyfriend Christian is non existent, if not, uh, uh, flawed in whatever way. It's not existent enough for Christian, that's for sure. Um, but anyway, so, uh, she decides that she wants to go with them on this Swedish trip. Or he asks her, sort of like, expecting her to say no. She doesn't. Talk about that for a second. They all planned the trip and he didn't even talk to her and tell her that they were gonna go. Right. Until they're at a party. She found out two weeks before they were gonna leave. Yeah. For a month, mind you. For a bunch of dicks. I mean, that's just a, that's a dick move to not even talk to your girlfriend about, Hey, I'm leaving for a month or two. For a month, yeah. Yeah. So, that was just... But they did a good job, so that's, that's another thing about the writing and the directing. They did a great job setting the stage. Of the, of the dynamic of these relationships before they enter the, the next scene. Because they are all so important. And, and again, how this film did not get a screenplay nomination, I don't know. Um, because it all ties in. It's like a perfectly woven quilt with every thread having its own meaning. And you just blend it all together. Um. Which is what great writing is. But anyway, so she decides to go on this trip with them. And of course, then it starts to take a turn into somewhat of a horror film. Uh, where they're at this, uh, this cult like commune. And, um, they meet some other Swedish people. It's in Sweden. Uh, one of the guys has brought two of his guests from Europe. I can't remember if they said, was it London? Okay, I was going to say London or Paris, where Connie and, uh, oh, what's the other guy? Uh, the two, yeah, the two, the, the, the couple. I'm sorry, that Ingmar brought, Ingmar was the name of Pele's friend. Pele is the one that takes him to this, by the way, because he's from there. It's his family. Is it Simon and Connie? I'm looking at the cast list. Simon. It is, it's Simon. So Simon and Connie were brought by Ingmar, who is Pele's friend. Uh, and Pele brought three, or sorry, four Americans. So it's, it's like they, they get to bring people to this thing. And this specific version of the Midsummer event takes place once every 90 years. What Pele leaves out is that there's going to be some sacrificing of people. Um, What's crazy about that though, what really blew me away is they, they played it off like, I think it was halfway through the movie before I realized, oh my god, he, he brought them here to be sacrificed. Yep. Yeah, and because like, At first, you're like, wow, that's so, like, so let's get into the, the, the, what, what happens, like, the day, the first full day they're there, the day after they trip, and they're, you know, they get there, and, uh, they have that ceremony that you were just about to start that, but there's the... I forgot what they called it, but it's basically a ceremonial suicide, um, with, uh, 72 year olds, right? Wait, yeah, let's get it. We're getting ahead of ourselves now. Well, okay. But, but what I'm, I guess the only reason I brought that up is, um, You have that trauma early in the movie, and you're like, wow, so it kind of dis, disorients you a little bit, and you're like, holy crap, this is a weird commune, but this is just a weird aspect of their, their tradition. Well, it's, it's not too early. It's right before the midpoint scene. Isn't that late, far? Yeah, it's right before halfway. Okay. And it's important that it lands there. Um, but, it lands there. No pun intended. Sorry. For the two old sorry 72 year olds. That lady face planted, man. I was gonna say, who meet their untimely doom. But it's very timely. Oh no. And, hey, no. Hey, for the record, the lady does it right. It's the guy that screws it up. I know. The guy fights it up again. Why did he go feet first? Because he was a pussy at the end. He ended up being a pussy. And he, and he jumped so half heartedly falls slash jumps off the clip. All right, it's so, so traumatizing. In this commune, your life goes in seasons, okay? And I believe I wrote it down here so I wouldn't forget the actual seasons. Um, oh jeez, where is it? Where is it? Where is it? Um, oh man. Oh, okay. So, zero to eighteen is spring. That's where you're a child and you're coming of age and learning shit. Thirteen I'm sorry, eighteen to thirty six is summer. It's what they call your pilgrimage. It's where you go to this festival. Right? Between eighteen and thirty six. And then thirty six to fifty four is fall. That's what they call your working age. That's where you, you know, take care of the commune and you do all your shit. 54 to 72, you're called mentor. So that's where you mentor people, and you're basically retired and whatever. And then, Danny has a line in there where she's like, What happens after 72? And Pelly just sort of looks at her and laughs, and he's, And then he does the thing, you know, with the, the throat. Yeah, he pulls his hand across his throat like he's gonna get, like he'd die. Yeah, like he'd die. And nobody says anything! I know! They just kind of laugh. They think he's joking, whatever. And then they go to the ceremony, where two old people have apparently reached 72. And it's time for them to go. And they go up to this cliff. It's very ceremonial. They cut their palms and they write their blood on this ceremonial stone. And everybody's chanting and blah, blah, blah. And they're all in robes. And they get up there. And the Americans and the couple from London are watching this like, Wow, I wonder what's going to happen. And the woman just fucking falls over. Swan dives. Like she's going to belly flop into a pool. And she lands face first on this fuckin rock, and her head just fuckin explodes, just like, like a piñata, just shit, just flies everywhere. And then, and everybody's mortified, except the commune people, right? Because they do this shit all the time, so they're like, whatever. But the Americans are horrified, and the couple from London is absolutely losing it. Like, Simon is absolutely losing it. And here's why this works as a horror film. I mean, if that were to happen in like, I don't know, something about the setting being so bright and happy and shiny and, and all the people are, this is just, this is just what we do, you know, it's just normal. Yeah. Yeah. And that, with the juxtaposition of all the, the, the western, the, the, you know, the, The people from, uh, London and the U. S. are just in horror. Absolute horror. Um, I mean, it was, it was stark, you know, so. Yeah, it was, it was fantastic. And then, of course, the old man, it's his turn now, the husband. And he just wimps out at the last second. Doesn't want to land on his face, apparently. What he wanted to do... Was laying on his feet. Like a fucking cat. Unfortunately, he's not a cat. He's a brutal 72 year old man. So his feet look like, his legs end up looking like a pretzel by the time he hits the ground. They're all mangled and shit and bones are sticking out and blood's flying everywhere. Screaming, writhing in pain. And they're prepared for this. Oh yeah. Because apparently this shit might happen a lot, where they chicken out at the last moment, and they don't go face first onto the rock, they go feet first. They know it's gonna jack them up anyway, so they're prepared. They bring a big ass mallet with them. Where they proceed to crush this dude's skull. This is like a wild e coyote mallet. Folks, folks, folks, I implore you, listen to me. If you think this is one of those movies that don't show it... Oh no. Where they're about, they're about to swing the mallet and then the camera cuts away. This isn't one of those movies. No, not one of those. You're gonna see what a mallet does to an old man's face. Okay? Not what does to his skull. I mean. Yeah, like just completely crushes it in. And they're not done, they pass it to each other and they all take a lick. Everyone gets a whack at it. Everyone gets a whack. It's tradition. It's what we do. So, so. Alright, so, alright, so, so, uh, I have to say, before we continue, One of the things that made me want to go see this movie originally was, I was reading... And wait a minute, hold on, let me just tell the audience right now, You took our mother to see this movie! Yes, it's fair to say, now wait, before we even get to that... I can't believe you took mine to see this! So I was reading... My poor mother, for anyone that's listening to this, I have taken my mother to see Leaving Las Vegas. Wait, wasn't she 72 when she saw it? Uh, maybe? No, wait. Not even, it came out in 19, right? Right, and then she's one of 48. She turned 70 in 18, so she was 71. She was gonna turn 72 that year. She's 71, yeah. She was in her final year of mentorship. Dude, that's so messed up. So I've taken my mother to sea leaving Las Vegas. I've taken my mother to sea I've taken my mother to see all kinds of horrific films that a young lad should not take his mother to see. Oh no. This was one of them. I took my mother to see Midsommar. And the reason I wanted to see it was Jordan Poole. Uh, Peele, I'm sorry, Jordan Peele. Jordan Peele, um, from, everyone knows him comically from Key and Peele. Yeah. He's also a writer director, he did, uh, Get Out, and, um, the most recent one, uh, Nope, and, uh, other, there was another one, I think it was called Us? Yeah, I've not seen any of them, and I, I really need to, cause I've heard such great things about them. Yeah, oh yeah, they're great, but you should watch them. In order of, of, when they came out. None of them are connected, but you can see Jordan Peele's sort of progression. As a writer, director, his films get creepier as they go. And, uh, so we start with Get Out. Uh, it was the one who won the Oscar for best screenplay for it. He said in an interview, I had no idea about Midsommar, I'd never even heard of it. I might have saw a trailer, or not even a trailer, just a billboard or something of the girl crying where you said it looks like Leonardo DiCaprio. So that picture, that picture was on a billboard somewhere, so I only knew of it by a billboard. Jordan Peele said in some sort of interview or whatever, It's the greatest horror film he's ever seen. Or, it's, it's the quintessential horror film, or something like that. He gave it some high praise. Right. And I remember watching Get Out and loving it and thinking, If Jordan Peele thinks Midsommar is that good, I gotta go fuckin see it. Yeah. So I took Mom. Zero regrets. Zero regrets. So, I, I was trying to figure out, like, did I get some unrated version because... There were no filters when it came to nudity and, you know, I mean, did they show all that in the theater? Yep. I mean, there was a lot of dicks. Christian's red dick from having sex with a virgin girl. Oh my god, it was horrible. Red dick flopping around as he's running around. I don't know, I'm just a prude I guess, but I'm not used to seeing that in a movie. It's Sweden, Chris. It's Sweden. That's how shit rolls over there, I guess. God. Anyway, so... Hey, hey, real quick, real quick. Can you either... I don't know if you can scoot your seat back a little or turn down the mic a little. It's turning red a lot. That's what she said. How about there? Is that a little better? I think so, but you're gonna get animated again, and it's probably gonna get loud. Well, I fucking take offense to that. Anyway, do you believe this, people? He says I get animated. Anyway, so, I'll tell you how animated I am. I'm gonna pour another glass of this Chianti. Cause see, here's what's happening now. My taste buds are being fried off, so I no longer even really taste it anymore. Let's get myself another healthy pour there. You know what, I might finish this bottle. That's the beauty about wine bottles. There's only about four glasses in each one. Well, two if you're drinking like you are. Two and a half. I am not offended by that. These are, these are, hashtag true story. Okay, so, so we're getting way, we're fucking jumping around here. We gotta go back to the beginning. Theme. We always talk about great writing, right? What's the theme? Okay, did you pick up what the theme was? So, for me, so, I didn't flesh this out in my own thought process, but, I mean, uh, what's your name? Danny. Danny's the lead. And she, she went through this trauma and, but her relationship with, not just with her boyfriend, but with his friends is what I would call sort of a dysfunctional one. She's, she's like, it's like she's needy in a way that's not healthy with them because she, she submits in a way that like she should stand when she should stand up for herself. In a couple of scenes in the beginning. So, she, her, her journey, she needs to learn to stand up for herself. And needs to, you know, uh, value, you know, her own person. And, and, oh boy, does she. At the very end. Right, so, so, so here's what I got. There's an actual line. And we always talk about, you know, five or six minutes into the film. Literally six minutes into the movie. Keep in mind the first five minutes of this film. Yeah hard to watch. Yeah, very very hard to watch very hard Well, you didn't even say what it was, but she lost her parents because of her sister bipolar sister Murdered them and took her own life. Yeah, so and and not just oh I found out that my sister killed herself and my parents they show how she did it basically how she did it and it is Grotesque, okay? It is, um, uh, And what's, what I thought was ironic, and maybe this is, uh, Maybe sort of a, uh, a director's point for the rest of the film. You mentioned how it's always daylight. All this horror happens at daylight. All these freaky, scary things are going on in the middle of the fucking day. In a place that seems so, uh, beautiful and benign to danger and just happiness and people are happy. There's flowers in their hair and all this shit. The contrast there, the method of suicide was, uh, carbon monoxide poisoning. from a car. And for anyone that knows, if you put your car in the garage and turn it on, you could die of carbon monoxide poisoning because the gas can't get out. And you generally will pass out or die in your sleep. As the father does. It appears when they're putting the bodies in a body bag that the mother woke and was gasping. Because she dies with her face frozen. Yeah, I didn't even catch that. In that, in that sort of like, you know, with eyes open, mouth open. But the father, as they're putting the father in the body bag... He's no expression. He's asleep. He died in his sleep. Yeah, so you get the I guess what I'm what I'm going for here Is the idea if you were going to this is a horrific obviously subject to talk about but if you're going to kill yourself one might assume dying by carbon monoxide poisoning would be Sort of the EAs, I don't wanna say easiest way, but, um, less likely for, I don't know, destruction, pain, blood. You know what I mean? You're not blowing your brains out with a gun. Um, you know, some people that have the fear of choking to death, you know, for some, I guess if you want to kill yourself, you're gonna go either way. Just, it doesn't matter what you do, um, but hanging yourself or jumping off of a building or jumping off of a bridge, This has an added element of fear, I think, to somebody who's already going through life with a lot of pain. So somebody that might choose carbon monoxide poisoning as a way of death, you would think they're choosing that as a sort of an easier way to drift, to just go to sleep and you don't wake up. Yet, as the rest of the movie is, that contrast is there that this carbon monoxide poisoning was violent. It was the way she had the tubes going from the car, she duct taped everything, and the, and the closing shot of it is the tube going into her mouth, the sister, duct taped so that even if she started to panic, she wouldn't pull it out, you know? And, and if, I couldn't tell, with her hands bound, I'd have to watch it again. It looks like her hands are at her side, but you can see vomit all over her shirt. Right? So it's like, God, what a way. Yeah, it was so traumatic, I kind of backed away from the TV with my hand over my face. Yeah, if you... I actually purposefully didn't study the scene. If you thought at all... That that would be, you know, again, there's obviously get help if you've ever had these kinds of thoughts, but if you ever thought that carbon monoxide poisoning was, well, if I had to do it, that's the way to go. You will think differently after you watch this movie. Because... And it's traumatic for those who have to see the aftermath as well, so. My God, yes. Exactly. Like, it's just, what a horrific opening five minutes to a movie. This does have an interesting connection to Silence of the Lambs, though, I wanted to mention. Hmm. Okay, we always talk about... Uh, script structure. That Chianti's hittin ya. That second, second glass, baby. That second glass is kickin in! Um, ha ha. Script structure, that you usually open with your main character, and you kind of show Their life as it regularly is, right? The usually the first 10 15 minutes of a movie is what Blake Snyder used to call at work, at home, at play. You show them a day on the job. You show them maybe at home. What do they do when they're at home when they get home from their a long day? And then maybe show them doing something recreational, you know, something at play. Maybe they play racquetball or something. The point is you're setting up this person's regular life before any shit hits the fan, which would catapult them into act two. Both Sons of the Lambs and Midsommar sort of flip that. They give you the craziness right off the bat. Clarice meets with Starling in the first ten minutes of the movie. Like... We meet Clarice Starling, and boom, she's told right off the bat by Jack Crawford, Hey, you're gonna go meet the psychopath in this cell today, go talk to him. We haven't even met Clarice, we don't know anything about her yet. And yet, that's the bludgeoning we get in the first ten minutes of the movie is her meeting with Lecter. We don't know anything about him, other than he's a cannibal. We don't know anything about her, other than she's a trainee. Same thing in Midsommar. We haven't even met Danny. We don't know what the fuck's going on yet. Right, right. And we're met with this traumatic opening five minutes. Both films, before you get to that second turning point, then slow down a little bit. They give you the trauma up front. I wouldn't say it sounds like it's just trauma, but meeting, uh, Lecter for the first time is very unsettling. And then they pull back a little bit. Then we get to see Clarice. We'll talk about this later. But we, then we get to see Clarice is sort of like at work, at home, at play kind of thing. And then Danny. Uh, is, more of her, is, how to, I'm just dealing with this now, you know what I mean? I'm, I'm, I'm sleeping all day, I'm not going to class anymore, I, I've just been suffering for, I, because the movie takes place, it's winter time. Yeah. When the movie opens, and then by the time the sweetest thing is coming out, it's summer time. Yeah. So for a good five, six months, she's just been sort of shitty. Surviving, right? Right, like, just, I, this is a shitty way to live. Did you like the picture, the screenshot I sent? Yes. What was that ding? Why is that not? Let me silence my phone. Sorry about that, everybody. Silence your phone? Silence of the phone. Yeah, so I sent you a screenshot of a scene, I paused it, where Danny's laying in bed, just grieving. And, uh, there's a big picture on her wall above her bed. And it's of, uh, looks like a little girl kissing a bear. Which is so genius. And I sent you, I looked it up, I did a Google search on that painting. This film was loaded with foreshadowing. Loaded with foreshadowing. So, just, I mean, I don't know if we have to jump ahead, but, um, There's a scene late in the movie where there is a bear. No, no, no, no, shut up! We'll get to that. Don't fucking ruin it now. We'll ruin it later. Now, so... So, um... But what was cool, that painting was made by a Swedish painter. Uh, a writer. Did he write, did he write and, did he write the book that he painted? He wrote children's books and did the illustrations. Illustration, and he's from Sweden, so. So, okay, so six minutes in after this traumatic, uh, I, uh, thing, Um, and you know me now, every time I watch a movie I'm listening for, what? Come on, somebody say something to the main character that, to me, signifies. Yeah, so what'd they say? In the six minute mark. So, in the six minute mark, she's on the phone with one of her girlfriends, and she's complaining about Christian. And the fucking girl on the phone says, He needs to be there for you, or good riddance. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Yeah, that's foreshadowing if I ever saw it. So, so, uh, yeah, so I'm like, oh, boom, there it fucking is. It just hit me like a, and again, I've seen this movie like ten times. But now preparing for this podcast, I was watching it again, and this thing hit me in the face like a ton of bricks. Just, my God, there it is. If he's not there for me... Good riddance. Good riddance. And the whole rest of the movie, she, like you said, she, she needs to stand up for herself, right? That's all part of it. That's all part of it. Yeah, being able to assert herself in this relationship. That theme kept coming up because when I first got there, like his friends wanted to do some mushrooms. Yeah, she didn't feel like she was a little uneasy about it. She wanted to settle in first, but then because of the peer pressure She's like, okay, you know, and then she had a bad trip. That's what I wrote down I wrote down that the emotional tug of war for her is when to assert myself, right? There are some times she's like, no I don't like this And there's times where she's like, okay, fine. You know what I mean? She doesn't know when to assert herself with Christian and his friends. Sort of unsure of herself. And yeah, right. So. I actually wrote down the battle she endures is do I smother him or not because she says on the phone I feel like I'm smothering him. That's what she tells the friend Yeah, the friend's like he needs to be there for you or good riddance She goes, but I feel like I'm smothering him, you know, and So, okay, so it's clear to me and here's where we get into tangible spiritual goals, right? God, I fucking love this part This is the part. This is what I love most about Midsommar So tangible spiritual goals. What do we always say the tangible goal? You, is what you want. Right? The spiritual goal is what you don't know you needed. It's what you need, but you didn't know it. Right. Right? And by going through your journey, you achieve it at the end. Now, the tangible goal is what you think you want, and you usually get that at the midpoint scene. Yeah. Right? And halfway through. So, let me, the midpoint scene is when Pele is talking to Danny, right? Yes! Yeah. Exactly at the midpoint scene. Now, here's what's important about that. Okay? So, her tangible goal is to feel support and comfort. Right. To be held. And she got it there. To be held. Yep. Right? And that's exactly what he asked her. Right? Yeah. Do you feel held by Christian? Like, have you, and he's telling the story about how his parents, by the way he says his parents died in a fire. I didn't even think about that! Something to think about. Something to think about. Uh, he says his parents died in a fire. But he's, he, and she doesn't want to hear, she's like, she's crying, she doesn't want to hear any of this. But when he says, the difference between you and I is I had a family here. This family. They held me when I needed it. You've had nobody. Right? Like, and she knows what he's saying, because she even says Christian could walk in any moment. He's like, I don't give a shit. But yeah, and he even asked her, so when you're with Christian, do you feel like you're at home? Right. Do you feel, right, do you feel home? Yeah, and he says something else that's very interesting. I wanted you to come more than anything, more than anyone. Right? He's been planning this shit. You know Pele's been planning this shit. Now, he probably didn't plan for her to come. He probably just thought, I'm gonna bring my American friends, and maybe I'll sacrifice them, because they're all assholes. But, but, but when he met Dani, he probably thought, this, this could be, there could be something here. I want her to come to this. Because she needs this. Right? Um, so, okay, so we get into Act 2, the act, obviously Act 1 is the turning point, which takes you from Act 2 to Act 1 is her deciding to go. And it's, uh, another conversation with Pele, obviously, it's interesting enough that he shows up at the turn, first turning point, the midpoint scene, and the third turning point. So, um, actually, actually, It's not really the third turn, uh, the second turning point, which takes you into Act 3. It's, uh, we'll, we'll get to that. But he's at the first turning point because he's telling her... You know when they're sitting on the couch and he's uh, oh, I just want to tell you I was so sorry What happened your family she freaks out right? She's not ready to talk about it And there's a great shot that r. a. esther does where she says I got to use the bathroom And she goes to the bathroom when she closes the door. She's in the plane Yeah, she's in the plane on her way to sweden. I I I it's funny because I was passively watching it I didn't catch that the first time But I actually, I did because I didn't, I didn't catch the whole scene because I looked down and I'm like, Oh, she's in the plane now, but I didn't get the whole impact of how that scene unfolded. And it was really, it was a great shot. Yeah. Yeah. It's a great edit cut. Yes. And, um, so she's on the plane now. And so now you're in the second act, right? Because it's a mirror flip of act one. It's, it's, uh, it's, I'm in a stranger in a strange land, right? It's now a new thing. Um. What also is interesting, Ari Aster does, now again, I know we always talk about screenwriting, but sometimes we throw in nice little moments of directing, when they're in the car. As they're driving in the car, what does R. E. S. do with the camera? It almost, it like goes up to show the sign as they're passing it by. Oh yeah, that was cool. And then it goes completely upside down. Yeah, that was freaking awesome. To where the car is upside down and the whole world is upside down. So what did that say to you when that happened? Again, that's almost exactly saying we are now... In the upside down version of act one, everything seemed to be, uh, where our characters were in act one. Now they're in something, they have no idea. Like this is what they're getting into now is completely upside down. Yeah. That was brilliant. And again, brilliant. I mean, that's all. In the directing, right? Yes. I mean... Now, I want to, are you ready to fuckin blow your nuts off again, right now? When they first get to the commune, and they meet Father Odd, Which, by the way, great name, Father Odd! Yeah, I know, right? Father Odd! He's fuckin odd! He's, he says, hello, or hi, to every single one of them, except Danny. You know what he says? to Danny? What's he say? You can hear, you can hear it. If you watch it again, it's clear as day. He says, welcome home. Yeah, I do remember that now. Yeah. Yeah, he says welcome home to Danny as he hugs her. He hugs her, by the way. He shakes the hands of everybody else, says, oh, hello. Hi. Hi. And when he gets to Danny, he hugs her and says, welcome home. How creepy is that fucking shit? So, Okay, so now we're in Act 2. A bunch of other crazy shit's about to go down here. So then, there is a moment, a scene where there is a lot of info being thrown at you. Now keep in mind that the redhead, uh, uh, uh, Maha? Maha? Mahi? Maha. The redhead. The one that, with the pubes. Okay, that, alright, that's odd to describe somebody, but you'll understand in a minute. If you have not seen this movie, you're like, what the hell? The one with the pubes. I guess it's ma ha. Ma ha. In Spanish, the J's a H sound, but I don't know, they're Swedish, I don't know. But they say it in the movie, but I can't remember now. I've seen this movie now, over ten times, and I can't remember if it's, I think it's Maja? Maybe it's Maja. Maja. Maja. It might be Maja. Maja. Maja. Okay. So, Maja's the redhead, and she's already marked Christian at this point. Right. They've already been dancing around, she's already kicked him in the side. And Danny noticed. Danny noticed. Like, what the fuck? Um, but then there's this really weird segment where they're all walking and a lot of information is poured out. Okay? So, let me, let me just go through it. Ingmar says he met Connie and Simon when he and Connie were dating. And Connie corrects him. She's like, We went on one date and it was more like two friends. And, you know, I met Simon shortly after that, or whatever, and Ingmar backtracks, he's like, Oh, right, right, right, I'm sorry, I forgot. So now you get the idea that Ingmar has wanted Connie, And because she got with Simon instead, That's why he chose THEM to come to Midsommar, Cause he's gonna sacrifice these two fuckin assholes, right? Like, he's bitter, he's bitter that he didn't get Connie, right? It's obvious he has infatuation. I wrote in parenthesis, I write, is this why he brought them? So, um, and then they talk about the yellow triangle hut, that they can't go inside, it's ceremonial. And then Christian doesn't know how long he's been with Danny, when they're like, how long have you two been together? And he's like, uh, I don't know. Two? Two and a half? Two years? Two and a half? And Danny's all, hello, three years? And he's all, oh, sorry, you know? Again, douchebag. It's right, it's obvious he's a douche. When the scene ends, they show the bear in a cage. Yes. Right? And they're like, what the? Is that a bear? Or they're like, actually someone said. Are we not going to talk about there's a bear here? Right, nobody's going to talk about the fact there's a bear in a cage over there. It was a grizzly bear, it wasn't just a little brown bear, I mean a little black bear. And as the camera pans away of those, of everyone leaving, there's a drawing, a picture that's like held up by tree branches or held up like a banner almost. It basically is dictating what's about to happen next. It's a drawing of a girl who's infatuated, who trims her pubes, Puts it in food for her man to eat, the man that she wants, she puts her pubes in his food. And then, and by the way, there's a drawing of a twat. Did we give a disclaimer about how disturbing this movie is? I think we did, but we should continue, well, it's too late now. There's literally a picture drawing of scissors cutting pubes off of a hairy twat. And the hair is cooked into food. But wait, it doesn't end there. She takes her period blood. And puts it in his drink. Oh, yeah. And all this is in the drawing. And the end panel of the drawing is that the man becomes infatuated, right? So, ladies, if you're listening, if you want a guy All you have to do... Oh, come on. Don't even finish the sentence, man. Is trim off some pubes. Somehow put it in his food. You gotta mix a cocktail of some kind of hallucinogen drug. And then put some of your period blood in his drink. Now if you could pull those two things off without him noticing, He's yours. He is yours. He's yours. That's so nasty. You own him. So anyway... So all that is dictated out. After that, they talk about the seasons. Yeah. Uh, what happens after 72, and then the next day is this ceremony. Okay? Yeah. Um, b by the way, I h I wrote down one little note about Mark being the the comete, that comedy. Um, right after they talk about the seasons, and right before they say, Okay, let's go to bed, cause tomorrow's this big ceremony, Uh, Paley's sister comes in, and gives Mark a look. And then when she leaves, Mark's all, Oh my god, you guys saw that? You saw that, right? You saw that? The way she left? And then as she leaves, he goes, Man, I wanna give her a bath. I know, that's so weird. I wanna give her a bath! Yeah. So anyway, so we get to the, uh, uh, horrific, uh, scene. Right? Something about that scene that didn't, uh, I didn't understand. They said that it's, uh, it's been 90 years since the last great feast and it'll be 90 years till the next one. So, do they do these sacrifices, like, every year, just not when there's a great feast? So, here's, here's, here's where, uh, I'm curious. Because they made it seem like they do these sacrifices every 90 years. But, if Pele's parents were in that fire... Well, yeah. Then the last time they did this was 20 years ago. Yeah. Right? Right, so younger. Yeah, so I don't know it's it's unclear how many times they murder people but but What's interesting is how they pick the people? Without it coming back to them. You'd think cops would be all over that place by now. I know, what I mean? Why does everyone that comes and visits your commune never makes it out alive, right? They never come home. But, but it's almost like Pele and, and Ingmar and anybody else knows they have to select people who have no family of their own. No, no parents that are going to come looking for them. No one that's going to miss them. Nobody's going to miss them. Right, that's weird. Like, this might be a... That's the creepy part. So anyway, so there's all this other shit going on where Christian decides he wants to do his thesis paper. Now, after seeing the old people die, Christian decides he wants to do his thesis paper on Midsommar, which is why Josh is there. So of course they have this conflict now, they get in this big argument, it leads to the midpoint scene. Now the midpoint scene that we already talked about is Pele and Dani sitting on the bed, and he, he hits her with it. Do you feel held by Christian? You know what I mean? Like, and it's obvious the way she's crying at the beginning of the scene and the way she's not at the end of the scene. Yeah. Is very, uh, it's very telling about how she feels about Pele, or at least that she's getting sucked into what he's selling. Um, that what he's selling, she's, she's buying. So now we're in the second part of Act 2, past the midpoint scene, where you know what happens there every time we talk about these films. What happens, uh, midpoints being seen is supposed to be your false victory. I got what I wanted. She finally felt that there was somebody there that cared about her. Yeah. But you know the second half of the movie? Everything goes to shit, everything falls apart, and it doesn't, this movie is no different. Oh boy, does it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, so, um, so it starts off, this whole second part of the second act, the whole second half of the film starts off with Mark pissing on the ancestral tree. Which couldn't have been a bigger mistake on his part, he has no idea, but you know to his point He's like, it's just a tree. It's a dead tree. I had to take a piss. How could I know and he's right? Nobody fucking told him. There's no signs, but everybody loses their shit including especially Ulf. And they have signs everywhere Wasn't there a sign? I don't remember a sign. I don't remember a sign. If it was, it was in like hieroglyphics or something that nobody fucking understood but them. Right. But Ulf is a commune member, a friend of Ingmar and Pele's, and he's the one that loses it. He freaks out. He wants to beat the shit out of Mark, right? Um, and then... Put your dick away! Yes, put your dick away! You're pissing on our ancestors! So... So, bad scene for Mark. I think he called it his dirty dick away. So, a bad scene for Mark. Immediately after that, Connie has found that Simon is missing. Now, Simon was the one that made a big fuss at the ceremony of the old people dying. Like, he called, he called them out. He was like, you're all fucking sick. You all, you know, this is insane. You're all fucked. He just said it over and over and over again. Yeah, and he's like, you're all fucked, you're all fucked, this is fucked. Why aren't the cops here? This is fucked. So, obviously, they're like, this is a problem. And this is how we deal with problems. Simon goes missing. And they tell her, they tell Connie, Oh, he went back to the train station, we'll be back to pick you up. And she's like, he wouldn't have left without me! We came together like, Yeah, he left without you. Obviously they're alike. But the funny thing is, when Danny goes to tell Christian, Simon just left without Connie, can you believe that? Christian's all, wow, that's crazy. So tell me again more about this commune. Like, he's like, he's just fucking, it's another example of where he's not listening to her. He doesn't care about her. Right, he's not there for her. Um. Hold on, I gotta fix something. Alright. There we go. You know, I'm actually drinking this Chianti now. I'm fucking drinking it. I didn't think I was going to, but I am. Oh yeah. So. So, right after Simon Goes Missing, are we back on yet or not yet? Hmm? Go for it, man. I'm, I'm listening. As he sucks on his head. Uh, alright. That came out a little wrong, but he was drinking the head of his beer. You weren't wrong, but... I wasn't wrong at all. That just sounded wrong. Okay, so right after Simon Goes Missing, um... They're making a meat tart. They're making meat tarts, right? And they invite Danny to come in and help them make meat tarts. It seems clear to me that the meat tart is fucking Simon. Oh. So now they're making a meat tart. I didn't even make that connection. So they're making a meat tart, right? The next scene, they're all sitting around eating these meat tarts and what does Christian pull out of his teeth while eating his meat tart? A pube. So, everything is starting to go to shit here. And if you didn't notice that it was a pube, who said it? Is that a pube? It's Mark. Of course it's Mark. It's always Mark, right? It's always Mark. Mark says, dude, is that a pube? And that's the same scene where he says... Uh, where Ulf is starin him down, bad doggin him, and he's like, Looks like somebody's still pissed about the ancestral tree. Yeah. And then, and then he says, Is he gonna kill me? Is he gonna kill me? Right. So, and then, and then the girl that he's hot for, that he wants to give a bath to, Pele's sister, comes and gets him. Mm hmm. Hey, Mark, come here, I wanna show you somethin He's all, Hell yeah! She's gonna show me. Yeah. He has no idea what's coming next. So... Though they don't show that scene, Mark dies. Mark dies. They kill Mark in that, in that scene. Um, and then they cut to that night. I wonder if that's a deleted scene. I, no, I don't think so because here's, the next scene after that is the creepiest one. So this is one scene that does take place in the dark, in the dark, at night time. Oh, right. Josh has crept out of their sleeping place to go take pictures of the ancestral book. He's not supposed to go fucking near. Right. He's not supposed to take pictures of this. Cheating from the good place. Yes. And he goes in there and you see the, uh, deformed child. That's sleeping off to the side. He walks right past him, by the way. And he starts taking pictures with his phone. He sees a reflection in the mirror of somebody standing in the doorway. He turns around and he believes that it's Mark. And he says, Mark, what are you doing here? You're not supposed to be here. Now, when the camera goes up... And you see the reflection in the, in the glass. When he spins around to yell at who he believes is Mark. Right. The camera follows. It doesn't cut. It follows. When it follows, watch it again. Pele's standing in the corner. Wow. Pele's standing in the corner. It goes by so fast, though. I missed that, yeah. Even if you pause it, all you really see is a figure wearing Pele's clothes, and dark hair, white guy. Wow. You assume it's Pele. The camera moves so fast. So, he's arguing, Mark, what are you doing here? You're not supposed to be in here. Blah, blah, blah. He gets bludgeoned over the head. Oh yeah. Pele, Pele kills him. Okay. So, and then it's off. Which, you don't know this by watching the film, but I read it on Reddit sometime later when I first saw this movie. Ulf has killed Mark, or at least the sister has killed Mark. Ulf has decided to dress up in Mark's skin. So he's wearing Mark's face when he leans over Josh and he's moaning. Right, that's so disturbing. Creepy as fuck. Next day, everything seems normal, except we can't find Mark, and we can't find Josh. And by the way, the scene opens with Danny and Christian waking up. Watch it again. Bailey's in the background changing his shirt. Wow. So, something that, I mean, one of the, another reason, I mean, it was just disturbing on its own merit, but what, another reason it was disturbing for me, so like... I, I don't, I was listening to a podcast and I don't know, I don't remember where I heard it, but I guess when you have a, a traumatic head injury, one of the common, like, uh, responses that your body does, basically you involuntary, you make a snoring sound, like a, a gruntal, like snoring sound. And what kind of creeped me out about that is, um, gosh, it was 20. Twenty years, twenty three years ago, um, my wife Jessie was in a car accident, and Caitlin, one of our kids, was in the car, along with three of our kids, and Jessie was pregnant, and no one got hurt, except mostly, I mean, there was some minor injuries, but Caitlin had a Fractured skull. And when I, I was, I saw the accident happen. I didn't know she fractured her skull in that accident. Oh yes, it was scary as hell. Uh, I got to the scene, Caitlin's unconscious, and she was making this I thought it was like a labored breathing sound, but after I heard this podcast I was like, oh wait, it sounded like she was snoring. Which was a really weird sound because I never heard her make that sound before and that reminded me of the accident I had a flashback of when Caitlin was injured Wow car accident 23 years ago and Josh is laying there sort of like Shaking. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like his head head injury was way worse than Caitlin's was because it killed him You know, but right but but yeah, it took me right back to this little girl in a car seat With a head injury. It was like, it messed me up. I was like, God. So, yeah, now I'm sharing my trauma with the world. Wow. As if we didn't have enough on our plate today. Thankfully, Caitlin, you know, after three days in the hospital... She was fine. It was scary. Well, I mean, you and I are we disagree on the definition of fine. Just kidding. Caitlyn, you know, I love her I love Caitlyn. All right, so anyway, So uh, we like to give our family members little digs every now and again. Uh, Caitlyn join the club. Okay? So, uh, and, and to say nothing to the effect on how many digs we give mom, whenever we do these podcast. Well, she's our biggest fan, you know. Yes, yes. So then, okay, so the next morning, Paley's Ching is changing his shirt. Christian is summoned by Siv, who, he has to go in and talk, Siv is like the leading, like the, like the maternal, sort of like the mother of this land, right? And she's explaining to Christian all about, he goes, I think she fed me one of her pubes, and she goes, yeah, that sounds about right. I know, I start cracking up. Oh, and by the way, about the drinking the menstrual blood, in that scene where he eats the pube, if you look at everybody's glass, it's all light colored like it's orange juice, his is darker. His is dark. Christian's is darker. It's almost like a dark, dark juice. I don't ever want to watch this movie ever again. No, you got, see, that's the beauty of this one is you catch more shit. Watching this movie is like the horror film version of airplane where every time you watch it, you catch something else you never caught before, right? That's what Midsommar is. So anyway, so, so then they invite. Danny to do the midsummer dance, right? To do the, the, uh, the, the May Queen midsummer dance where it's, uh, it's about 30 girls and they dance around this structure until you dance until you fall over and anyone that's left standing is crowned May Queen, right? And they give you a little bit of drugs before you start. I mean, why not? Right? Right. Um, so, some shit's going on about, um, Christian is, is being seduced, uh, and, and influenced to deflower the redhead. Right? Maja. Um, it's almost like he was, he was pinpointed from day one. Like, the first day he got there, he was targeted. Right. She put the thing under his bed. Fed him her pubes, he drank her menstrual water, a regu uh, you know, a day in the office. So, um, anyway, so while all this shit's going on, Danny wins the May Queen. She outlasts everybody. Everybody falls but her. The outsider. And, I don't, I mean I'd have to watch it again for like the twelfth time. I don't think they threw that contest. Like, I don't think they did it on purpose for her to win. Yeah, I think the last two to fall ran into each other by accident. Yeah, by accident. I mean, they didn't make it look like they, they threw it. Right, right. Like, she wins this shit. She just wins it. Right. Um, and then, uh, there's this big thing where they carry her around, and they put her in a chariot, and all this shit. And then, the all is lost. Now, we all know what the all is lost is, is where the main character has hit complete rock bottom. Right. She already is very nervous about leaving Christian alone, while they take her off on this little parade thing. Their relationship's basically hanging by a thread. It's by a thread, like a very, very thin thread. She gets back. And she says, what's going on in that room? Or what's going on in that cabin? And they're like, oh no, no, no, no, you don't want to go there, you know, whatever. She's like, no, I gotta go. So she goes and looks, and of course, what does she see? Which is probably the most unsettling sex scene I've ever seen in a movie. And that includes, and that includes porn, by the way. Christian! You just got down butt naked! Hold on, wait, before you describe it. So Jessie was on her way home from a thing last night, and she called, or, yeah, she called me, and like, the movie's playing in the background, you know, I didn't even pause it, because I kind of knew what was going on, and I'm like, oh, hey, by the way, when you walk in the door, you might... What be walking in and to like in the middle of like what look may look like an orgy It's not but it's really weird So all the like the elders the old mentor ladies are standing in a half circle around the fuck pit and Through there to sort of cheer on And this is a good, this is a good time to describe that at this moment you get the realization that, um, It happened a little bit when the old people died, but this really made it clear. They have a way of feeling what they are feeling. Yeah, they share the emotions. They share the feelings! So while this fucking is going on, all the old ladies are, like, orgasming. Like, they're, like, they're feeling it. One lady even gets behind Christian and starts pushing his bare ass, naked ass. And he's looking like, what the fuck? Like, I'm trying to have sex with this obvious minor, I might add. I'm having sex. I had sex with this girl, which is a crime, and yet there's an old lady behind me pushing my ass to go deeper. It was bad, it was so bad. So, and here's the thing, he was drugged. Yeah, he was drugged. He was drugged, and... So basically he was drugged and they told him that, well, he actually voluntarily drank it. Yep. She gave it to him. She said it'll reduce your inhibitions and whatever. Yep. And he drank it. He wanted to fuck Maja. That's all there is to it. Right? So you can't... You can't get around it, but you can seduce as much as you want. It's so messed up. Yeah. He wanted to do this because again, what did we say at the beginning? Danny doesn't have sex, or at least her affection level isn't that high. He comes to this place with this little red head, is literally throwing herself at him. Yeah. And he's seduced by that. He's seduced by the idea of somebody that wants me. Right? Yeah. So, I'm in a three year relationship, three, four year relationship with Danny who doesn't appear at all like she wants me. This redhead, I'm here five days, whatever it is, and it's clear that she wants me. He's drawn to that manhood thing. So anyway, cut to the, uh, uh, make it a long story short. When he comes... She starts lifting up her knees and she's like, you know, I can feel the baby. I can feel the baby. And he's like weirded out now. He's like, you know what? Me having sex with an obvious minor with a bunch of old people standing around watching was bad enough. But her saying, I can feel the baby, that's where I draw the line. So he runs out, he runs out in disgust, butt naked with his red jacket. Bloody dick. Oh, God. Running around, and then he has nowhere to go. Of course, he stumbles into a different cabin that has Simon's dead body hanging from a ceiling. Well, that was it for the elders. They blew dust in his face and paralyzed him permanently from head to toe. So, well, I would say from neck down. Yeah, because his eyes could move, and that was about it. Yeah, okay, so talk so that is Danny's all is lost and of course we always talk about dark night of the soul which is the moment between the all is lost and the main character's decision to propel into act three right so So, to me, that Dark Night of the Soul, that moment, Dani goes into the cabin with all the sisters, and she's crying, and they're all there with her, remember? And they're all huddled over, and she's tr they try to lay her down on the bed, but she just wants to get to the floor, and they're all around her, and they're all Feeling her pain. Yeah. As she cries, they cry. As she goes, ah. They go, ah, yeah, they're, it was, was creepy, but in sync. Yeah. It was creepy. But at the same time, I could understand like psychologically how this, it would comfort a person that doesn't have support. You know what I mean? Mm-hmm. like her, like this is the answer to her need. Right. Someone that is there with her. Experiencing, you know, what she's feeling with her, something she wasn't getting from her boyfriend. So, as weird as it was, I mean, the commune is twisted, but it was filling a need. Yeah, so, so her jump to Act 3, of course, she's put in charge to decide who... She's made, like, queen or something. Yeah, she's the mate queen, and she gets to decide what's going to happen to Christian. Um... Well, she could have, she could have chose someone else. Yeah, surprise to nobody. Fuck you, Christian. Right? They stuff him in a bear. We're in Act 3 now. Well, first they show him, like, disemboweling the bear. Yeah, they disembowel the bear. Yeah, they shove his ass up in there. And then they talk about the nine sacrifices. So, the two old people that already died. And that they cremated, they created these weird little paper mache with twigs and shit to signify those two, so those two are there. That confused me, were their heads real? I don't think so, not of those two. But the bodies, but the bodies weren't, cause it looked, they looked real, like a real dead head on the fake body. Right, but their, but their faces were mangled in real life, like they were completely caved in. I don't know. Oh, yeah, it couldn't have been the real heads. Well, no, I'm talking about their friends though. Like, oh, no, no. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So we'll get to that. So the first two of the nine are the two old people that died. Yeah, but they're made up in like sort of like models with twigs as hands and everything. Yeah, they stick them in there. Uh, the next two is of course, Connie and Uh, Simon, and yes, like, they have these, they're like flowers for eyes and shit, and it's like they used their face and their, their skin to create these dummies, so to speak. Um, they do the same thing with Mark, they put him in like, almost like a, like a clown outfit, because he's the clown, right? Yeah. And, and all, obviously taking his face off, because he's wearing his face. Josh was there, and Josh and Mark, so that's two, four, so that's six, and then seven, eight is the, uh, the volunteers. Ingmar and Ulf. Yeah. Volunteer to be two of the ones that go. So, and this is another way of maybe why they get away with it all the time. Because the people that are luring them are the ones that sacrifice themselves, with the exception of Billy, uh, Ingmar sacrifices himself. So if any cops ever came and said, hey, have you ever seen this guy, they'd be like, nope, go ahead, look around, check, you might find his ashes, but nothing else! So anyway, Ingmar and Ulf represent themselves, and then she has to decide. They draw like a fucking lottery, like it's the, uh, uh... They draw a lottery ball, again with a bunch of hieroglyphic symbols on it, I don't know, they pick it up and they're like, Ah, Frank! We picked Frank! You know, whatever. So a guy comes walking up, and he's the guy, and she has to decide between this guy and Christian, who's paralyzed at this point. Of course she picked Christian, right? So, Christian goes, gets stuffed in the bear, and then, uh, and they place him inside. The thing. Hit that. Excuse me. This is Chianti, man. I'm telling you. The final scene is they set this fucking thing on fire as one big sacrifice, and everybody starts feeling their pain when Ulf catches fire. Yeah, he starts screaming. He starts screaming, and they're, and all the people are like going like this outside, like they can feel Yeah, they start rubbing their skin and start screaming. Right, like they're, like they're trying to get the fire off of them. So they could almost feel what the, what Ingmar and Ulf are feeling. And so does Dani. Yeah. She's writhing in pain, screaming. And then the final You could tell her, her pain, though, was, was more of a, you know, she was grieving that her, she just lit her boyfriend on fire, you know? I don't know! Well, I think it was part of it. I think she had become like them. Yeah, I mean, so... And she was feeling it. Finish your point, because the final scene is... Well, wait, wait, wait, actually, before we get to the final scene, one thing I forgot to mention. When she wins the May Queen, and everyone's celebrating, did you notice Pelé comes up and kisses her? No, I didn't notice it. He comes up, takes her both hands on her face and kisses her. Wow. And then just keeps going along with the crowd. Yeah. I miss it. You know what I mean? Yeah. So it's almost like she is going to, he and her are destined to be a thing, right? To be together. She's the May Queen. He brought her so he gets to be the courtship, the guy. Final scene. Final scene. She achieves her spiritual goal. Yeah, she's in. Now, so, no, no, remember I said tangible goal was, uh, to, to just be held, right? Yeah. Well, to me, the spiritual goal, wait, where is it? I wrote this down. Her spiritual goal is to be... Uh, important, right? To be an important member of the family, to be a leader in the family, to be somebody of importance. Her whole life, nobody's cared about her. Her sister doesn't care about her, her parents don't care about her, her boyfriend didn't care about her. Every time, uh uh, and they, and they allude to it with little lines of dialogue. Like, oh, your sister always does this to you. You know what I mean? you know what I mean? Like just say they say shit like that in the whole movie. You get the idea that she's not only never been held, she's never been important. She's never been seen as important. Right, right. Final shot. She's the fucking May queen. Yep. And this whole ceremony of sacrificing these people is in her honor. Yep. And the camera fades out. With her smiling. Smiling, yeah. Yep. And when I was in the theater, I, I, I don't know if I said it out loud. I might have. But in my head I'm all Stop it. Close it now. Fade to black. Fade to black. Fade to black. Fade to black. Fade to black. Fade to black. Don't give me another scene. Don't try to explain anything with another scene. Just go to black. And I want to see, all I want to see right now is directed by Ari Aster. That's all I want to see. Give it to me. Give it to me. Give it to me. Give it. And they did. And I was like, YES! And I looked at mom and I said I fucking loved it. Mom's like, what? Mom's horrified, right? Poor mom has no fucking clue what I just went through as a film lover and a screenwriter. Mom's terrified. She's horrified. Unbelievable. So... Here's the thing, um, I think we need to make this a two parter. We can continue recording, but I think we should release this in two separate recordings. Because this is, we're at 80 minutes right now. On the first movie. It's worth it! So, um... We're normally done like... Let me see here. If there's any other notes I wanted to add, I don't think so. I think I got everything. I'm with you though, man. I don't know how Florence Pugh did not get nominated. Oh, she not, she was so great. She was so great. I mean, as you went through that again, I'm recounting how many times she had to like, Not just cry, but full body cry, you know what I mean? Like, full emotion in, I mean, because that's, I don't know, it's like... Her pain is, feels so real, you know? Like, good God. And like, when she was crying, um, after her parents were killed, and her sister died, like, you could hear, like, her voice was hoarse. Yeah, evident and like signifying that she had been wailing for a long time Because you could hear like it sounded like she had laryngitis because usually It's actually it's actually more than that when before it happens She's talking to Christian on the phone. And she's saying, I got this cryptic message from my sister. And that's when he's on the phone going, well, she always does this to you. You know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. She leans over. Her, almost her whole face takes up the frame of the film. And you see, Bags under her eyes like you like like it's obvious. She's been crying. So leading up to this. She had already been going through hell Right. So you I mean, yes, you could say well that's makeup. Okay, but it's still acting sure because She can't keep herself from tearing up. Just talking to christian. Well anyone that knows someone or has a family member even more with a head that's bipolar. Um, this is, I mean, again, they're probably not going to want to watch this movie because it's so triggering. It's so, because they did such a good job just in that brief, it was only like five minutes, right? The beginning of the movie where they, they unfold that, that whole scenario. But if someone has, I bet you people walked out of the theater. I bet you people, people who, who lived with people with bipolar probably said, Nope, this one's not for me because it's too real. You know what I mean? It was, it was nuts. Yeah. Okay, so let's, assuming that we're going to cut this into two parts, let's start part two. Okay. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Before we do that, any closing thoughts on Midsommar other than it got completely robbed at the 2019 Oscars? Yeah, honestly, I'm, I'm a little bitter that it got, it got totally snubbed. Now what did I fucking tell you? I told you a long time ago. I said that every year a movie will come out that I love more than any other movie. And sometimes it wins Best Picture, and when it doesn't, it's great. But, there, I remember I always tell the famous story about, in 1995, I was such a big fan of Braveheart, that in early 96 at the Oscars, uh, Braveheart wins Best Picture, and MOM CALLED ME TO CONGRATULATE ME! I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MOVIE! I was in, I was in college at the time, and all my college roommates are like, Did your mom just call you to congratulate you? Like, like you have no, I had fucking nothing to do with Braveheart. But, it was a movie that I championed, like the whole year I was like, Guys, this is the best movie of the year. This is the best movie of the year. And I kept telling everyone. And they're like, no, Sense and Sensibility is going to win. No, Apollo 13 is going to win. And it was like, when it came to Oscar night, the odds were on either Apollo 13 or Sense and Sensibility. That was it. Now, everyone knew that Mel was going to win Best Director, because it was the best directed movie of the year. But everyone's like, but Best Picture is going to go to either Sense and Sensibility. Or Apollo 13. Oh, wait, Braveheart, what my mom called, like, I had just won the fucking Oscar. Anyway. She's like, great acceptance speech. Right. Right. I should have given my speech. So that's a point. That's a point I want to make about how, like, every year there's a movie that I love and I tell everybody about it. And sometimes it wins best picture. Sometimes it doesn't. It's a letdown. 2019, my favorite film of the year by far was Midsommar, and it's not even close. Yeah. And it wasn't. Even nominated and I just, it just, it, it, it, it hurts. Ari Aster, you got robbed, my friend, uh, robbed, robbed. He could have gotten best director, best screenplay. Uh, it should have been nominated for best. But I'm not saying it's going to win these, but it would have at least should have got nominated. Okay, that's where we landed the plane on this one. It is kind of an abrupt cut. We just kind of rambled on a bit about how long it was going and how we needed bathroom breaks. So, I spared you that. Um, but yeah, the six degrees of separation that we normally do at the end of each episode will be at the end of our Silence 2. And again, if you're enjoying this show, please share it with somebody and let us know, and let us know where you're listening. We'd like to hear from you. So until next time, cheers and go watch some movies.