Annual Top Films Lists

Top 100 Most Anticipated American Independent Films of 2019: #6. Ari Aster’s Midsommer

Published on February 8, 2019

Midsommer

The current title might not stick, but media outlets are probably circling Ari Aster’s Midsommer as the most anticipated sophomore film project for the new year. Arriving rather quickly after his insta-classic Gotham Award winning Hereditary (sits at an 87 score on MetaCritic), Aster went into production in Hungary last July with William Oldroyd’s Lady Macbeth stand out Florence Pugh being surrounded by Jack Reynor, Will Poulter, Vilhem Blomgren, William Jackson Harper, Ellora Torchia and Archie Madekwe. Reteaming with cinematographer Pawel Pogorzelski, this production is in conjunction with Lars Knudsen who was also on Aster’s horror debut.

Gist: Written by Aster, this is about a couple travels to Sweden to visit their friend’s rural hometown for its fabled 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.

Release Date/Prediction: The sky is the limit with this sophomore film, and while Sundance were likely clamouring for seconds, A24 pegged this with a August 9th release date. The big question is: will they forgo a Cannes premiere after David Robert Mitchell’s Under the Silver Lake received a less than stellar premiere?

Eric Lavallée

Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).