'Eddington' review: Ari Aster turns the pandemic into a savage Western satire

Courtesy of A24

---

Since the pandemic uprooted our lives in 2020, there’s been no shortage of art trying to reckon with it. Some, like the resourceful 56-minute horror thriller “Host,” cleverly embraced the limitations of lockdown, while others, like 2020’s utterly ridiculous “Songbird,” squandered the opportunity and completely misread the room. Writer-director Ari Aster, who’s built his brand exploring the darker sides of human nature (“Hereditary,” “Midsommar”) and the perils of the psyche via mommy issues in “Beau is Afraid,” feels like the last person who’d shy away from revisiting 2020. His latest, “Eddington,” is a Coen Brothers-coded western set at the height of the pandemic, where mask mandates, online conspiracy theories, and civil unrest in the wake of George Floyd’s murder ran rampant, deepening the divides between neighbors.

Naturally, Aster is drawn to such hot-button material, and “Eddington” is a sobering reminder of just how awful 2020 really was. From online incels to fake virtue signaling, this is one of the first films to actually nail the vibe, tone, and general disarray of that time. There were several moments that genuinely triggered me with the sheer accuracy of the minute details Aster plucked from an era that, while only five years ago, feels like another lifetime. It plays like one of the first truly modern films of this decade.

“Eddington” takes its name from a small New Mexico town teetering on the edge of collapse. Residents fight over statewide ordinances, everyone is tumbling down YouTube and Reddit rabbit holes that breed misinformation and paranoia. If Aster wants you to take anything away from “Eddington,” it’s that there was perhaps a time when people could trust one another, think of the unity after 9/11, but 2020 was the straw that broke the camel’s back. We’re past the point of no return.

It’s a more grounded outing compared to the trippy odyssey of “Beau is Afraid.” Here, the story tracks the residents and officials of Eddington as they stumble through an unraveling world, eventually centering on a rivalry between conservative sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix) and the well-liked mayor Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal), who’s up for reelection.

The two men have history. Ted used to date Joe’s wife, Louise (Emma Stone), a struggling Etsy artist trying to find herself. Louise and Ted are housing her mother Dawn (Deirdre O’Connell), whose entire news diet consists of seven-hour conspiracy theory videos claiming the pandemic was engineered to usher in martial law. Needless to say, the home dynamic is toxic. Ted, meanwhile, is a single father living in a swanky Western-style hilltop home, his popularity alone is enough to grind Joe’s gears.

After a grocery store altercation over masks, Joe throws his hat in the mayoral race, running on a platform of disdain for government overreach and mandates. But just as the election heats up, Floyd’s murder sparks nationwide protests, eventually reaching sleepy Eddington, where calls to defund the police send Joe into a tailspin.

Like Alex Garland’s “Civil War” last year, “Eddington” refuses to draw clear lines in the sand. Aster presents both sides of the COVID ideological divide without leaning too hard into caricature. It’s a satire, sure, but it jabs at everyone: from the white protesters in the Black Lives Matter movement who can’t articulate why they’re marching, to right-leaning grifters looking to profit off the chaos. It’s a mean-spirited movie, but then again, the hate and vitriol that poured out during the pandemic was never exactly pleasant.

That’s also what’s going to make “Eddington” divisive, but that’s the point. Aster is holding up a mirror and asking us to confront how dumb, petty, and cruel we all sounded. Sure, we know more about the pandemic now than we did then, but “Eddington” still has its finger on the pulse of the paranoia and unease that swept the country. References to Pizzagate and nods to the toilet paper craze are bound to stir something visceral.

In true Aster fashion, the movie goes completely off the rails in its final act, blending western, drama, and satire into a very 2020-style shootout in the streets, capped with one of the most karmic endings in recent memory. The cast is excellent: Phoenix channels the angry, disenfranchised white male energy with a disturbing precision; Austin Butler has a memorable cameo as a David Koresh-style guru; and both Stone and Pascal elevate Aster’s material. A sequence between Pascal and Phoenix, featuring a bonkers needle drop, and Stone’s character undergoing a radical transformation, are just some of the film’s more electric moments.

Aster’s films aren’t always built for repeat viewing, but he knows how to get under your skin. His movies operate on a wide spectrum of feelings and insights that require a full mindset shift. “Eddington” is no different, a prickly, provocative reminder that some wounds from 2020 are still raw, and that Aster remains one of the most consistent filmmakers working today. 

Grade: B 

EDDINGTON is now playing in theaters.