‘Eddington’ review

By Nadia Dalimonte

Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal in “Eddington”

If you thought “Beau Is Afraid” was divisive, Ari Aster has outdone himself with the anxiety-inducing “Eddington,” a political satire and contemporary Western set during the COVID-19 outbreak. Aster, who made his startling debut with “Hereditary” and mind-melting sophomore feature with “Midsommar,” has injected new energy not only into the horror genre, but the film industry at large. His genre-bending sensibilities contort what one would traditionally expect from, and perceive as, a horror piece. He finds fascinating creative avenues for exploring universal themes, from family dysfunction (“Hereditary”) and mental illness (“Midsommar”) to guilt-ridden generational trauma (“Beau Is Afraid”). The bizarre, sprawling odyssey of “Beau” in particular marked a bold change for Aster, compared to the more contained storytelling of his first two films. While Aster’s experimental ambition didn’t fully land with “Beau,” at least his choices exemplified bold filmmaking.

“Eddington” takes big swings not necessarily with boldness, but reckless audacity. Aster meticulously stays put in the chaos, nihilism, and uncertainty of when the pandemic first erupted. He reflects the environment - corrupt state politics, Black Lives Matter protests, police brutality, white supremacy, misinformation bubbles, unruly mask mandates, living on the Internet, performative allyship, and much more —at first with intriguing observation. The film begins with a compelling focus on how disconnected human beings have become, worsened through distorted social media platforms, and how individual perceptions can influence entire communities that are already on the brink of completely boiling over.

But the more overarching ideas and character arcs Aster stirs into the pot, the more control he loses over where this film and its point are ultimately headed. The half-baked writing reveals a perplexing lack of engagement towards unpacking several themes. While clearly detailed and thoroughly researched in terms of portraying a very specific period of time, Aster stands too far back from the unfiltered lens. Dynamic as the performances are, compelling as the visual language is, and effective as the narrative buildup of tension may be, “Eddington” struggles to resonate beyond the point of spectacle. What the film does excel at, however, is provoke from all angles to depict how an entire society runs on completely separate belief systems, feeding into a shared nightmare that no amount of individual nostalgia can repair. Aster holds a funhouse mirror to today’s society with a satirical confrontation of contemporary hell.

In the fictional town of Eddington, New Mexico during May of 2020, sheriff Joe Cross (an excellent Joaquin Phoenix) lives with his wife, Louise (Emma Stone) and her mother, Dawn (Deirdre O’Connell), whose conspiracy theories have created a sense of dread in their own home. Such was the case for several households in the early days (and the lingering aftermath) of the pandemic; misinformation not only caused extreme paranoia, but amplified some of the most dangerous platforms and gave permission to preach alternate realities. This dichotomy of connection and isolation is rampant throughout the film, kickstarting with Joe (Phoenix) in a battle against the town mayor, Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal) about wearing masks in a pharmacy. Their early scenes together suggest unfinished business, along with a real “this town isn’t big enough for the two of us” Western energy, which Phoenix and Pascal play brilliantly.

The film quickly branches into a broader scope of systemic issues including police brutality and racism, the police murder of George Floyd, and widespread protests among the Black community, as well as white fragility and reckoning from the perspective of privileged white kids. When the protests reach Joe’s front door, the film begins to unpack how his department — including officers Guy (Luke Grimes) and Mike (Michael Ward) — responds to Floyd’s death and the community’s protesting. There is a missed opportunity here in not engaging with this perspective on a more nuanced level. Aster leans heavily into satire and dark humour, which works fine for Facebook rabbit holes and benign political campaign ads. But the film uses far too many subjects as clumsy ways to push a story forward, especially one plot with a Black police officer that feels hollow, without making any insightful commentary or thematic exploration.

The film works best when locked into the characters’ bottled emotions and how they each form individual pressure cookers. Joaquin Phoenix is an absolute wildcard of an actor, which makes him perfectly cast as sheriff Joe, as he has precisely the sort of energy that feeds into the character’s hidden rage. You truly never know what you’re going to get out of him, which Aster sharply emphasizes in a standout sequence of the mayor (Pascal) blasting Katy Perry’s “Firework” at a party, another pop icon feature in an Aster film. While not as strange as Mariah Carey’s “Always Be My Baby” needle drop in “Beau Is Afraid,” it’s certainly more intense, mainly thanks to Phoenix’s fascinating unpredictability as he navigates the character’s increasingly irrational and desperate behaviour.

However inconsistently Aster’s ambitions translate onto the screen, he has crafted a compellingly and wildly imperfect film that depicts the horrors of humanity, a common thread in his work. While “Hereditary” and “Midsommar” live within the horror genre, the terrors of those stories lie in human conflict — in not having a support system for grief nor mental health, and how quickly those vulnerabilities become manipulated and twisted beyond repair. “Eddington” echoes a similar vibration with the scary fragility of the mind. All it takes is a single click for people to lose all sense of decency and rationale, whether it’s Louise (Stone) falling under the spell of a self-appointed saviour/cult leader (Austin Butler), or a white kid who fights for justice to impress a girl and quite literally overnight, morphs into a celebrity antithesis of the persona he once adopted.

Aster also puts considerable care into the overall production of “Eddington.” Cinematographer Darius Khondji balances barren landscapes and phone screens with a sharp, revealing eye. Composer Daniel Pemberton finds an incredibly provocative rhythm, and his score is used at precisely the right times to emphasize tension. Aster’s visceral, atmospheric direction lends to the gradual build of suspense and paranoia, especially in a well-orchestrated shootout sequence in the final act. The sense of dread is absolutely palpable from the start, and only intensifies as Aster explores far more sinister and disturbing plot points, adding to the inescapable horrors that unfold in Eddington. 

“Eddington” will absolutely divide audiences in a way that feels both ambitious and reckless. Aster locks the viewer into overwhelming dread, societal unrest, and moral chaos, all through an uncompromising lens. For better or worse, he meticulously puts his vision onto the screen. But his thematic approach becomes far too repetitive to fully land as a satire or at least a thoughtful commentary. Eventually the film reaches a breaking point and poses the question, what is this all for? “Eddington” provides no solutions, only a tedious reflection with flashes of brilliance.