Midsommar Review: 7 Ups & 3 Downs

6. Ari Aster's Incredible Direction

If Hereditary was one of the most impressive directorial debuts of the last decade regardless of genre, Midsommar again confirms that Aster is capable of producing phenomenally controlled results on insanely low budgets (this film cost just $8 million).

Aster has a creative knack for camerawork that most filmmakers decades his senior don't, making even potentially mundane dialogue-driven scenes interesting and compelling to look at.

But Aster's biggest strength is ultimately his work with actors: he knows how to get uncomfortably intimate and realistic performances out of his casts.

As with Hereditary, he teases an offputtingly raw performance out of his lead, while even basic, awkward chit-chat between characters plays out so realistically it feels like you're watching a documentary.

Though it's tempting to consider what Aster could achieve on a larger budget, there's a lot to be said for what he's pulled off with such constrained resources in these two movies, so perhaps it's a wheelhouse he's better off sticking within.