Ari Aster is a director who, with every one of his films, brings you into close proximity with a world and characters that you can’t help but be repulsed by. A family that is destroyed by grief and supernatural evils in Hereditary; a young woman whose boyfriend and life are so awful that a murderous cult is a cathartic escape with Midsommar; a 50-year-old mama’s boy who can’t take one step without the world beating him down until he’s a shell of a human being in Beau Is Afraid. But while these stories are brimming with horror and the worst of humankind, Aster’s extraordinary world-building means we never want to look away for a second, even when we watch an elder’s face be smashed in with a mallet.
Aster’s latest offering, Eddington, may not be as stylistically distinctive or visually disturbing as his other efforts, but that’s because the writer-director is capturing an evil much more recognizable. A town — a world — driven mad by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s not the spreading virus that puts Eddington in peril, but the people who use the unrest for their own gain. Starring a never-better Joaquin Phoenix as a single embodiment of everything that has and is ruining America — and the world — Eddington is the most unflinching portrayal of how the world used a pandemic to justify its madness.
What Is ‘Eddington’ About?

It’s May 1, 2020, when we’re dropped in the small, barren town of Eddington, New Mexico, and the county sheriff, Joe Cross (Phoenix), is contemptuous towards anyone who tells him what to do. He’s in a turf war with the other county’s police as they battle over jurisdiction, and he refuses to wear a mask anywhere. A years-long grievance over Joe’s wife, Louise (Emma Stone), pits Joe against the town mayor, Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal), who is running for re-election, always wearing his mask and releasing corny campaign videos. The town’s tension doesn’t just derive from the ongoing pandemic; a hyperscale datacenter that will create hundreds of jobs but require considerable resources has put the town’s people firmly on either side. Joe has to watch as his old pal is refused entry to a supermarket without a mask, and he just can’t sit back and watch the injustice any longer. So, he does what any dumbass white man with too much power would do: He runs for mayor.
But despite Eddington’s seeming isolation from the rest of the world, the murder of George Floyd brings unrest, protests, and Antifa to Eddington, and Joe’s office, consisting of himself and his reporting officers, Michael (Micheal Ward) and Guy (Luke Grimes), are right on the firing line. Despite everything about Eddington and its people having that subtle, off-kilter feeling that Aster is so skilled at conjuring up, there are still so many garish details that we can recognize. Louise’s mother, who lives in their home, is constantly rambling about COVID being an inside job, because that’s what she heard on Facebook. A dissociative Louise only feels seen by the online Christian-fuelled tirades of Vernon Jefferson Peak (Austin Butler), and Louise and he bond over their mutual feelings about pedophilia and child abuse. And through all this, Joe scrambles to keep his town together, not for the sake of the people, but because what is the point of being a king if there is no kingdom?

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Wherever in the world you were at the start of the pandemic, you will likely be retriggered by the way Aster reconstructs the air at this time of crisis. For one, we see the characters’ reliance on social media for their information, be it on how to have a conversation with your partner about having a baby, trying to find a conspiracy that quenches your curiosity as to why a pandemic is happening now, or which person to put your trust in to fight for your rights. Through Ted’s son and his friends, we also follow how the minds of youths are being reshaped when the adults don’t have a clue what they’re doing. “Send her a snap with me to prove that you’re really an ally,” Ted’s son says to his white friend as he tries to impress a girl who feels passionately about social causes.
Aster isn’t mocking the “woke” youth of today, but there is something satirical in how he frames issues being co-opted, while those they really affect are ignored. Joe weaponizes his wife’s trauma to try to win the mayoral race, and when his officer asks him if he really wants to post the video, he replies, “Just don’t make me think. Post it.” Ted Garcia is a law-abiding citizen who wears his mask and is polite to everyone, but when he’s challenged by a woman over Zoom, he mutes for a second to ask his manager, “Can we shut this bitch up?”
Ari Aster Is Showing the World at Its Most Ridiculous and Dangerous

Image Via A24

Don’t expect Eddington to be Aster’s way of proclaiming to the world which side of the political spectrum he’s on. It’s obvious, but that’s not what he is setting out to achieve here. There are all the mentions of the political touchstone and buzzwords, but you don’t hear any mention of Trump or Biden, or Republican or Democratic. Aster isn’t trying to appease both sides — he’s mocking them both when they co-opt real issues out of selfishness, and reminding us that this system benefits no one. Aster is propping up and pointing at the people who claim they’re acting in the best interests of the world when, actually, it all comes down to the age-old reasoning of power and greed. Racism and sexual assault are weaponized for personal gain, and those with real issues are pushed to the side. Louise is left voiceless for the majority of the film, and Michael, a Black cop, is being spoken for in conversations around him by white people.

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And despite Aster taking on the weightiest topics in the world today, he still manages to creep in some uncanny humor. Joe and his office being laughably incompetent, young adults speaking with authority on things they’re not sure that they believe or understand, and “Firework” by Katy Perry blaring over a showdown between Joe and Ted all work to make it clear that Aster isn’t necessarily saying “Isn’t this so terrible?” but more, “Isn’t this so ridiculous?” But the comedy is so well-placed that his exhibition of the worst in people is never dulled. Eddington is still a jarring exposition of how one small town can be such an explosive microcosm for everything wrong in the world.
Aster’s past three films have all demonstrated a distinctive tone and style that remains unmatched, whether it’s horror or a surrealist tragicomedy. Here, you’re not going to find the same terrorizing atmosphere as in Hereditary or the mind-boggling visuals from Beau Is Afraid, but his grasp of tone is just as impressive. Eddington’s last act becomes a desert-set caper thriller, feeling like a spiritual successor to Rian Johnson’s Brick. The score from Aster’s frequent go-to, Bobby Krlic, and Daniel Pemberton adds to the crime-thriller ambiance, with a low residual bass that reminds you that this is an Aster film, and nothing is ever as it seems. For all my fellow horror heads, unfortunately, you won’t find the same level of gore as his first two films, but there are some shocking moments, and, more importantly, that unshakable feeling of dread is never far.
Joaquin Phoenix Was the Perfect Choice to Lead ‘Eddington’

Image Via A24

As someone who was never particularly responsive to the work of Joaquin Phoenix (except for Her and his portrayal of Johnny Cash in Walk the Line), Eddington was a wonderful surprise. Despite the film’s star-studded cast with the likes of Stone and Pascal, Phoenix remains at the center through to the bitter end. Even as a once Phoenix-skeptic, I could always see he excelled at playing two kinds of men: pathetic losers (Beau Is Afraid, Joker) and unlikable assholes (Napoleon, Irrational Man… Joker). Eddington gives him the chance to play both, an incompetent man led astray from everything he once cared about. His character’s journey feels Shakespearan in that, despite the film’s nexus being the COVID pandemic, the real troubles here are all manmade.
Phoenix is the perfect actor to play a man as stupid as he is dangerous, bumbling around like a man who’s just been transported from the 1920s, but is still capable of mass destruction. If you’re coming for any of the other stars, you’ll be left disappointed. In the film’s tamest role, Pascal is an effective and calming antidote to Phoenix’s hysteria, exposing his range beyond the reluctant father, but he’s never given the ground to do anything majorly different. Stone and Butler are particularly underserved, as the way in which their characters connect is one of the script’s most compelling side quests, but it’s never fully delved into.
Eddington may feel like a step back for Ari Aster in regards to his striking visuals and talent for creating nightmarish viewing experiences. But, if anything, it’s really showing that Aster can take these nightmares and show how they can operate in reality. It’s a step forward in his career that, after the meager response to Beau Is Afraid, reminds the world that he’s one of the most uncompromising directors working today. With Joaquin Phoenix at the height of his abilities, Eddington is, if you look close enough, just as, if not more terrifying than anything Paimon or a Swedish cult could ever unleash.
Eddington had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. It arrives in theaters in the U.S. on July 18.