The Witch to me is one of those scary movies that never makes you actively afraid, but really gets under your skin and makes you paranoid. I think it is because of how well it builds up its world, and how attentive it is to its historical roots. This really does feel like a film adaptation of a folk tale that would have been told around that time. I think it also does a good job at making the fear of the family feel valid. We often don’t look very favorably on the puritans during the witch trials, and for good reason. They did execute many innocent people due to their fears and anxiety. This film does a good job at making you symbiosis with the puritans, even if the witch wasn’t real. It illustrates how they were in a strange new world where they didn’t know what was real or not. That they didn’t know what lies in the woods around them. It shows how they try to take control or rationalize all the chaos around them, but at the end of the day there’s nothing they can do. They have to learn to go with the flow of the new world, or drown trying to fight it.
I loved Midsommar. I found the setting of an eternal day so unnerving. Maybe it’s because I’m up from 6:00pm-9:00am, so I see very little sunlight, but I think it's more because it seems so unilateral. It gives this feeling that time is stuck and not moving properly. I think this also fits really well with the movie's heavy drug use, because can’t drugs alter your perception of time. The endless day also contrasts well with the opening winter setting. Another aspect I love is how much of the movie is told beforehand through the art and murals. It gives the movie a very distant style and flow to its story. To me the story is about grieving and learning to move on. That there are phases to life and we have to learn how to change seasons. We see Dani at the beginning trying to hold on to her failing relationship with Christian even though he is not good to her or helping her move on. She stays with him because he is familiar. She lost so much and she’s not ready to lose more. As the movie progresses she finds a sense of community with the people of the commune. She is shown as happier when around them, but seems to lose that happiness when christian shows up, or tries to connect to her. Another aspect that adds to this idea of rebirth is when Pelle draws her. He drew her first on her birthday, and then again when she became may queen. This being a rebirth for her, and a start of a new phase of life for her. So the whole big message is about learning to move on, and how sometimes to escape from the past you have to disconnect from the people who keep you there.