If you haven’t seen “Hereditary” yet, you may be missing out on one of the best directorial debuts. Ari Aster has been receiving wide critical acclaim for his horror film. Leaving audiences with nightmares, and pondering the difficulties of familial trauma and grief. But of course, he isn’t stopping there. Aster is working on new projects.
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For his next film, Aster is still going to be focused on familial relationships. He recently told Film Comment about his project, “Midsommer.” “It’s an apocalyptic breakup movie,” said Aster. His new endeavor will continue his line of work delving into the complicated relationships of family. Going as far back in his filmography with shorts like 2011’s “About the Johnsons.”
Aster also discussed his love of Ingmar Bergman, citing the filmmaker’s work as a huge influence on him. “’Cries and Whispers‘ was a film I screened for the ‘Hereditary’ crew,” he recalled. “For my money, I think it’s the best film I’ve ever seen about suffering, and ultimately, ‘Hereditary’ is a film that takes suffering seriously.”
READ MORE: ‘Hereditary’ Is A Game Changing Horror Masterpiece [Review]
“There’s a real emotional brutality to ‘Scenes from a Marriage‘ that was on my mind,” he added. “It has these monologues that seem to make it into every Bergman film, usually a man decimating a woman. In the case of ‘Hereditary,’ there are things said that can’t be unsaid. It’s people purging things, but ultimately, it doesn’t really solve anything.”
“It’s Scandinavian folk horror,” Aster said in a separate interview with THR (via Filmstage) revealing a few more ‘”Midsommer” details. “That is the only other horror movie I have. And I’m pretty sure that’s going to be it for a long time. I love the genre, I consider myself a genre filmmaker in that I want to play in every genre. I would love to make a musical. I have ten other scripts that I’ve written that I want to make and there are other things I have. I’m writing a sci-fi film and there are at least four or five movies that I have ready to go that I am excited about making that I’d like to do in succession.”
Principal photography on “Midsommer” is slated to begin in August with location shooting in Hungary. Still very much in tune with the horror genre, “Midsommer” will follow a young couple’s vacation to a Swedish village. There they discover the residents’ odd traditions and rituals. As one of the main characters carries pain from a recently deceased loved one, these rituals become cloaked in an impending dread waiting to take hold. We can’t wait.