“Midsommar”, the highly anticipated second film from director Ari Aster proves once again the filmmaker’s acute sense of place and extreme attention to detail. This is a film bathed in unspoken symbols and vivid legends; and through drawings, paintings and carvings these images pervade a large part of the film, foretelling much of what it is to come and adding a sense of environment that is at once sacred, beautiful and horrifying.
Chekka Chivantha Vaanam on the other hand is a very conventional film that plays it’s characters very safely and doesn’t really indulge in them as much as I would’ve wanted it to.
I remember first seeing this film when it came out on-demand, I think I was 10 years old at the time, and even to this day I remember my excitement at watching the astonishing sight of the Golden Army awakening, the gorgeous final battle sequence with Prince Nuada, and that eerie Troll market. These images have long stayed with me and re-watching it again, they still hold their power.
