Eddington is a neo-western/thriller/dark comedy from writer/director Ari Aster (Midsommar) and stars Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone, and Austin Butler. Set in the fictional small town of Eddington, New Mexico during the Covid-19 pandemic, its focus is on a showdown between the town sheriff and its mayor. It also explores and exposes the tension of the time and the absurdity that ran wild on the internet and social media. It’s a hell of a roller coaster ride filled with action, tension, uncomfortable moments and silly, hard truths that puts 2020 in microcosmic perspective.
Buy Eddington Blu-rayEddington, NM, a quiet desert town with a population of 2,435, is about to be turned upside down. The sheriff (Phoenix) and the mayor (Pascal) have a history of hostility that’s about to get worse as the Covid-19 pandemic, along with all the turmoil of 2020, invade the quiet town with the force of a black-hooded army. Tensions mount as mask mandates push Sheriff Cross to throw his hat in the mayoral ring. Mayor Garcia, a staunch mandate man, won’t just step aside, especially as the pair’s shared past, which involves Cross’ deeply disturbed wife (Stone), begins to rear its ugly head.
There’s also the fact that Eddington borders on tribal land where the tribal police are wary of their neighboring town’s nonsense. Tempers flare as wild internet theories run rampant and national events send the town into an uproar that has them filling the streets and turning on one another and the sheriff’s office like they’ve never done before. Things get really wacky and violent when a mysterious jet plane filled with protest signs and figures cloaked in black zooms towards Eddington. Could the gun-toting, balaclava-clad figures also have something to do with the town’s proposed AI-fueled data center?
Ari Aster has managed to corral all the absurdity of those times into a tight 148-minute thrill ride. It’s uncomfortable and hard to watch at times, but that’s what good movies do, they make you think and tug at your comfort zones. Joaquin Phoenix is at his awkward best facing off against Pedro Pascal as they expose and wrestle with their woman troubles which will lead one of them to violent action as the movie tumbles to its absurd yet somehow plausible end. Aster switches gears a bit about two hours in, shifting the movie from straight-up thriller to a darker comedy satire. Again, the film seems so ludicrous at times but yet so possible in this crazy internet, nutball, Rothschild/Soros/build-a-bear group (its actually Bilderberg, but whatever) conspiracy theory, social-media, chaos-filled world we call the present day.
The Blu-ray Special Edition features include a 33-minute featurette, Made in Eddington, and six souvenir postcards that depict certain scenes reflective of the movie. Made in Eddington features cast and crew as they film the movie, and Aster gives us some more insight on what he was aiming for with Eddington. There are some peeks into the movie’s twists but no major spoilers. Aster’s thoughts on the movie are interesting, he’s vague on its meaning but that’s great because these movies are best left that way, let it swim in and infect the viewer’s mind for a while. Interviews with Phoenix, Pascal, Stone, Butler, and others provide further perspective on their characters and the making of this fine movie.
With Eddington, Ari Aster has delivered a distorted yet clear and pointed view of the recent past without making a complete mockery of it. He covers it all, from social distancing, mask wearing alone in your own car, to drive-up testing sites and the social/political ridiculousness that sprang up as lockdowns (for most) were being enforced. Eddington may not be a casual watch but it is something worth repeated viewings.
