A good critic said that this film had an excess of Ariel Aster. I think that's a more than adequate definition.
He had a huge hit with Hereditary and critics noted that he was a terrifying figure.
A Midsummer Night's Horror furthered his stellar work in cinematography, but he abandoned the script and was less favorable at the box office and with critics.
It is his most ambitious film to date, with a running time of three hours.
The film tells the story of Beau's journey to attend his mother's funeral. On that trip he will have to face his painful past, ambiguous present and uncertain future.
The main mistake was wasting Joaquin Phoenix. Great actors block the same face throughout the film.
But it's not her fault, as a writer, Esther tries to make something immersive, and sometimes it works, but here it gets boring amidst the complex symbolism. It's still dramatic, with a tinge of horror.
The movie flopped at the box office because it didn't even make back half of its investment. I think that's fair enough.
If you consider yourself an Aster fan, go ahead, you might like it. I'm glad I saw it, because I recently saw a disturbing short film "Strange Things About Johnson". But as far as I know, there are younger directors with better proposals.
