Eddington Review

Eddington is Ari Aster’s fourth feature film. This time, he satires politics during the COVID pandemic.

Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix) is the sheriff of Eddington in New Mexico. He has political differences regarding the mayor’s, Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal), COVID policy. Joe also has personal issues with Ted due to Ted’s previous relationship with Joe’s wife, Lou (Emma Stone). These issues lead Joe to run for mayor just as tensions increase in the town.

Ari Aster has developed a divisive reputation as a filmmaker. One of his short films, The Strange Things About the Johnsons, gained notoriety due to its subject matter, and his previous film, Beau is Afraid, was met with a mixed reaction. Eddington was met with a similar critical reception, having a 69% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 6.7 on IMDb, but it was also nominated for the Palme d’Or at the 78^th Cannes Film Festival.

Eddington highlighted the political issues in 2020 and how they affect today. It started with mask mandates and social distancing, but escalated into conspiracy theories and paranoia. Joe believed the rules were too draconian as he was told to wear a mask, even when he was alone in a car, and showed sympathy for a man who was refused entry into a supermarket. Joe’s mother-in-law, Dawn (Deirdre O’Connell), lived in his house, and she acted as a toxic presence since she was a conspiracy theorist. She listened to podcasts about the pandemic being manufactured and the lockdowns, which made child trafficking easier. The town was also in the middle of a debate about opening a data centre, with opposition pointing out it would use up a lot of water in a desert town, and touching on a current issue regarding the unchecked growth of the tech industry and its impact on the environment.

During the Pandemic was the death of George Floyd and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. Joe and the Eddington’s Sheriff’s Department suffered the brunt of the protests and inflamed the tensions in the town. The BLM movement was led by Sarah (Amélie Hoeferle), an 18-year-old woman who suffered from white guilt and yelled about the racist, oppressive system that America was built on. Another character, Brian (Cameron Mann), joined the movement because he wanted to impress Sarah and became one of BLM’s leading voices in Eddington.

All this tension escalated and affected the political debate. It turned into a campaign of insults, personal attacks, and unfounded allegations, so standard American discourse. Eddington was turning into a powder keg where political violence could happen at any time. Anyone who follows American politics knows that the country has become inflamed with division.  Eddington was a film for cynical centrists who hold political extremes in contempt. The conspiracy theorists and BLM leaders were shown to be either obnoxious or self-serving. It was like Aster took lessons from Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

As well as the political commentary, Eddington turned into a thriller and offered more of a narrative thrust. Going into further details would lead to a massive spoiler, but it led to something audiences could hook onto as a character’s world starts to crumble. The second half of the film offered a bit more mainstream appeal as it focused more on action and suspense instead of political commentary.

Aster has been an indulgent filmmaker. His films have had long runtimes, and Eddington was no exception. It was two and a half hours long, and it had a large scope. There were many characters and storylines that were conversing, for the most part, in Eddington.

Eddington was an ambitious film due to the political themes and commentary, and it had a no-holds-barred approach to all political ideologies. However, like Aster’s previous films, it will divide because of its story and storytelling.