August, 2019

Happy Lughnasadh, all!  For those of you who haven’t seen my spoiler-free review of Midsommar, it appears below the event listing.  I may want to drop my rating to 3 pents out of 5, as it’s probably not as rewatchable as the original Wicker Man.

Late-breaking news from the Brooks Medieval Faire:  “Due to severe illness and a car accident, the organizers have made the tough decision to cancel the 2019 Brooks Medieval Faire. Ticket refunds will be issued through Eventbrite and vendors will be refunded through e-transfer. Thanks to everyone for their support and well wishes. We will make the 2020 Faire bigger and better than ever. See you next year. – Jen and Sandy”

August Events:

 Note these events are listed for information purposes only; no endorsement should be necessarily implied. Dates and locations may be subject to change; see the source for details. If I’ve missed anyone and you’d like to add to this listing, please contact me. All times MDT.

Jul 26-28:  Tsuu T’ina Nation Rodeo and Pow Wow near Bragg Creek.

*Aug 1:  Traditional Lughnasadh/Lammas, etc.

*Aug 1, 8:58 pm:  Mercury Retrograde ends.

*Aug 2-5:  PanFest at Pigeon Lake.  http://www.panfest.ca

Aug 2, 7:00 pm:  Circles of Rhythm Drum Circle, Inglewood Community Centre. 

https://www.meetup.com/The-Calgary-Drum-Circle-Meetup-Group/

Aug 3-4:  “Days of Yore” at Rosebud Park, Didsbury (for those of us not going to Panfest)  http://www.mountainviewartssociety.ca/daysyore/

Aug 3-5:  Canmore Folk Festival.  http://canmorefolkfestival.com/

Aug 3, 11:00 am:  Inglewood Sunfest.  https://inglewoodsunfest.ca/

Aug 5:  Heritage Day (Alberta) and other Civic Holidays in Canada.

*Aug 5:  Celtic Tree-Month of Coll/Hazel begins, according to Graves and Llewellyn.

Aug 9-11:  “When Words Collide” at Delta Hotel South.  http://whenwordscollide.org

Aug 9, 7:00 pm:  Circles of Rhythm Drum Circle (see Aug 2).

Aug 10-11:  CANCELLED - Brooks Medieval Faire.  http://brooksfaire.com

*Aug 11-13:  Peak of Perseids meteor shower, obscured by bright Moon.

Aug 15-24:  “Globalfest” at Elliston Park.  http://globalfest.ca

*Aug 15, 11:31 am:  Full (Sturgeon) Moon.  Partial Lunar Eclipse not visible from Canada.

Aug 16, 7:00 pm:  Circles of Rhythm Drum Circle (see Aug 2).

Aug 23, 7:00 pm:  Circles of Rhythm Drum Circle (see Aug 2).

*Aug 30, 4:37 am:  New Moon.  Lunar Month of Muin/Vine begins.

Aug 30, 7:00 pm:  Circles of Rhythm Drum Circle (see Aug 2).

*Aug 31, 7:00 pm:  Calgary Heathens Meet and Greet.

Midsommar Review (No Spoilers)

Robin Hardy’s 1973 The Wicker Man has long been a classic in the pagan horror genre.  Its juxtaposition of an idyllic pagan culture on a remote Scottish island with the strict Christian police officer investigating a child’s disappearance, with horrifying consequences, has spawned many imitators and a disastrous 2006 remake starring Nicolas Cage.  Even Hardy’s own 2011 sequel, The Wicker Tree, co-produced with Christopher Lee, couldn’t live up to the original.

But I had hopes when I saw the trailer for Ari Aster’s Midsommar, which explores somewhat similar themes in the setting of a remote Swedish midsummer ritual.  And for once I was happily rewarded, as I found it at times intense, trippy, creepy, gory, and haunting.  It may lack the wonderful soundtrack of Hardy’s Wicker Man, but the characters are more complicated than the stereotypes of the former, and some of the imagery stays with you long after the movie has ended.

The plot begins painfully slowly, as the characters are introduced.  The central character, Dani, is devastated when her family dies tragically.  Her boyfriend, Christian, a struggling post-graduate student, has been contemplating breaking up with her, but the tragedy prevents him from doing so.  Christian has neglected to tell her that he’s joining his friends for a trip to a Midsummer festival at the remote village of Harga in Sweden, which causes more uncertainty in their relationship.  He placates her by inviting her along, hoping that she won’t follow through on the offer.

The friends include Josh, a fellow student who is doing his thesis on indigenous Midsummer celebrations; Mark, an obnoxious young man interested only in drugs and sex; and Pelle, a Swedish traveller from Harga, who tries to bond with Dani, telling her that his own parents died in a fire, and who manages to convince her to come along.  They’re joined in Harga by Connie and Simon, a British couple who have been brought by another one of the villagers.

After they get to the site, the group begins to discover that things aren’t as innocent as they seem.  While drug trips offer visions of connections with nature, Dani undergoes disturbing dreams and flashbacks.  Simon and Connie, upset by the gory goings-on, leave the site under mysterious circumstances.  Pelle demonstrates various memory lapses, or is he manipulating the four friends?  Each of them become drawn into various aspects of the life of the village and its rituals, which doesn’t bode well for most of them.  And while one can see where this is all headed, there’s suspense in the what and when and how.

As with the original Wicker Man, the art direction is rich in detail, with disturbing murals depicting the mythology associated with the rituals, runic motifs sewn into the costumes and used throughout the village site and carved into ceremonial stones.  Still, the “village” looks more like a stark cult compound than a working town, so a lot of the “local colour” of Summerisle is missing here.

Director Ari Aster uses a lot of subtle and not-so-subtle hints to suggest things aren’t as idyllic as they first seem.  There are repeated inverted images, notably in a striking helicopter crane shot as they approach the site.  The outsiders are isolated in a number of ways.  They stand out with their conventional dress against the more traditional costumes of the villagers.  When they are seated at the outdoor dining table shaped in the form of the rune Othila, they are at the bottom of the rune, facing away from the head of the table. Early rituals are in uncaptioned Swedish, and only explained later, if at all.

On perhaps a deeper level, there are certain dissonances that may just be errors on the screenwriter’s part, but which still add to the sense of foreboding.  The outsiders are told that this nine-day festival occurs once every ninety years (note this would go counter to Norse heathenism, where things would more appropriately happen in eights).  Even so, photographs on a wall indicate that the May Queen is chosen every year, although why this is done in June is also confusing.  We’re also told the village is a four-hour drive north of Stockholm, yet the White Nights indicate they may be above the Arctic Circle.

The two-and-a-half hour runtime can be a problem, as in sections the plot runs ponderously slowly. The characters of Connie and Simon are given very little to do, and seem to be there just to up the cast numbers for the conclusion; removing them from the plot would have tightened up the story a bit.

Rated R (surprise) for full-frontal nudity, sexuality, drug use, and gory scenes.  My rating: Four pentacles out of five.