Eddington

This movie reminds me of a real story of self awareness in light of the worlds ills. In the early 1900s, a newspaper reportedly asked a group of notable writers and thinkers to respond to the question, "What is wrong with the world today?" To which the famous theologian and thinker G. K. Chesterton is said to have replied with a characteristically witty and humble response "Dear Sirs, I am. Yours sincerely, G. K. Chesterton."

Ari Aster has made another horror film. This one is disguised as a modern day Western, Dark Comedy, but this is deep diving stuff that inserts us into a small New Mexico town in 2020 that is at the beginning stages of the COVID pandemic. Joaquin Phoenix is the tour guide - and the ride - who shows us something of what is wrong with the world.

Eddington took me back to feelings of despair that play on in our world. This is a most excellent tragic tale and definitely not a comedy, although the audience will probably laugh in the discomfort of seeing the true reflection of ourselves somewhere in this mirror of blame, conspiracy, narcissism, and social rage.

Somehow Aster keeps this from being preachy while giving us a scare at our own reflections. What wrong with Eddington? It's us.

In 2019, Ari Aster struck many film fans as the new face of horror and quickly attached him to the genre. In 2025, Ari Aster has departed from that stereotype and is now seen (at least in my opinion) as a director who makes very polarizing and ambitious films that he wants to make. I gotta respect the guy for going out and doing that. Eddington, much like his 2023 film "Beau is Afraid" is that kind of film. It's ridiculously ambitious, busy, and absolutely bonkers. It's something that I feel only Aster could make. I'll agree with the critics when they say Aster covers a lot of subjects but doesn't really commit to most of them. He seems to kind of get lost in the moment of trying to satirize and summarize too many subjects of the COVID pandemic to the point of exhaustion. It's not his most successful film and it's certainly not going to please everyone, but I greatly admire the drive he put into it.

So here we are, my first Aster review after only dipping my toes into his horror self and this movie is, something. It´s a lot and I think that is the best way to describe Eddington. This is not in either a positive or negative way it just feels like a lot, a brain dump movie if you will. I think this is a post corona/world situation movie, a movie that just wanted to put everything into one movie and how that might affect a single individual in this world. Sprinkel in dark comedy and a plot that really runs with it and you have an overall enjoyable movie, but one I have a hard time understand what it wanted. Maybe it is as simple as to show insanity, but I had a hard time picking out the exact idea here.

In a corona hit world. Joe Cross, the Sherrif of the small town Eddington is confronted with an ever changing environment and he runs for mayor in the town.

This movie is and touches upon a lot of the last couple of years conflict, a time capsule of what happened in our 2020s. It is not just the corona virus, but the killing of George Floyd and Black Lives Matter, cults, conspiracies, AI and so much more. This feels like a person just dumping their brain into this movie, getting rid of all the anger and frustration they had and also commenting on everything that happened. The overall consensus for me was that its insane how none of us didn't go insane from all of this and we follow a Sherrif that is decently pushed to his limits. My overall problem is that this shallow outcome doesn't quite harmonize with what the movie is talking about overall to me. It´s hard to understand what the director is thinking of all these subjects, where their views lie and what they want you to think of all this, couple this with it being a dark comedy and the waters are even more muddier. It is also a movie that takes a while to get going but then runs away with itself. There is a lot to take out of this movie, but it's hard to understand exactly what is supposed to be taken out exactly.

The humour here is good and funny. It is a very fark humour and it might border on too much at times. It work for me because the movie is competent about it and understands its world and characters, but once again it borders what the director is thinking and it is hard to read at times.

From a technical aspects the movie is amazing! The acting here is so strong all around. As always Joaquin Phoenix delivers pure perf4ection in his main character role and he understands his character perfect. The sadness and deadpan delivery is phenomenal and he carries the entire runtime of the movie. The rest of the cast is also strong overall. The cinematography is also incredible here. Aster really showing his understand of composition and depth. There is also a lot of small subgenres playing here like a western style confrontation and some of his horror elements finding their way into the movie and looking great and fitting in a weird movie like this. The score is also varies and strong, sounding amazing a varied to all the scenes.

Let me try to tackle the political angel of the movie. I tried a bit before but it's hard to put into words. The movie of course, talks about a lot of politically charged subjects and the overall opinion of the characters are varied but overall dumb. I don´t know if this is a side of the director or him making fun of all these kinds of people. Because the political opinions swing wildly here and it's hard to exactly pin down what this movie thinks of anything to be honest. And if the overall takeaway is "people just going crazy" then that did not need that many different talks and subject matters at all. Again the movies overall point is a bit all over the place and that made the movie less enjoyable to me, it's hard to read.

It's one of those movies that are good overall but did not really land with me because I'm not sure what to make of it. I don´t understand what the director want to say with the movie or what its overall purpose is. It is still good and fun with a lot things I liked but I don´t know if I want to put it on anything special to me personally. It is also a movie that is hard to talk about. There is so much but at the same time so little because of its "simplicity" in its execution.

Its thesis is clear. We're all hypocrites. How the old generation has a stick up their ***, too rigid to embrace meaningful change, while the younger generation-damned from birth by social screens, performs outrage on Instagram in hopes of sleeping with Sarah.

Ari Aster skewers each political perspective, which in turn makes up a large majority of unhappy letterboxd reviewers, ironically complementing the film's punchline. No matter where you stand, it's naive to believe stupidity is exclusive to one side.

All in all, it's a film less concerned with who's right and more obsessed with how dumb it all looks from a distance.

Describing Eddington as a neo-western might be the most fitting way to summarise Ari Aster's 2025 dark comedy-drama-though even that hardly scratches the surface.

That said, I felt I needed a full ten minutes of silence after the credits rolled, just to process what I'd witnessed.

It's an Ari Aster film, after all, so if you're familiar with his work, you'll know to expect a whirlwind of emotional and thematic disarray. But Eddington isn't just messy-it's exquisite, unfiltered chaos.

If you've seen the trailer, don't be misled. It barely teases the disorienting spiral that unfolds. The story kicks off in May 2020, amidst the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

What begins as a snapshot of public hysteria-conspiracy theories, anti-vaxxers, and the fear-soaked atmosphere-rapidly morphs into something darker and more disturbingly real.

We've spent the past five years collectively unmoored-adrift in chaos, where appearances deceive and identities dissolve. It sometimes feels like a failed social mutation-one born from freedom pushed to its breaking point-an evolutionary misstep we fought to achieve, only to have it turn against us.

Let's be clear: freedom is a vital human right. But when it becomes indistinguishable from anarchic self-destruction, something has clearly gone awry.

At its core, Eddington follows a standoff between small-town sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix) and Mayor Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal), set in the fictional town of Eddington, New Mexico.

Their clash is both personal and political-complicated by Garcia's fraught history with Cross's wife, Louise (Emma Stone), and mother-in-law, Dawn (Deirdre O'Connell).

Aster revisits his obsession with overbearing maternal figures, folding that tension seamlessly into the wider conflict as the two men find themselves on opposing sides of the mask debate.

The film is deliberately provocative, often hollow by design, and it's a difficult piece to review. You'll laugh, you'll wince, you'll question what you're watching-and you certainly won't find it comforting.

Aster touches on themes like racial division, though arguably without much new to say. The Black Lives Matter movement is clearly present in the film's DNA, but its representation feels muddled-more gestured at than fully explored.

Before it can fully engage with those ideas, the film veers off into another subplot filled with irrationality, violence, and distraction-perhaps intentionally mirroring how public attention shifted in real time.

What he does capture is the paranoia, anxiety, and social fragmentation that exploded when lockdowns began and the world collectively panicked. He blends it into a fever dream of confusion and satire, offering no answers-just raw sensation.

Much of the chaos is filtered through the lens of social media, which becomes the film's true stage. It's where the news is curated, where lies take root, and where misinformation thrives.

To emphasize this aspect, the film extensively employs the screenlife technique, blending traditional storytelling with found-footage and mockumentary styles. And let me tell you, it works remarkably well, enhancing the overall sense of realism.

Paranoia spreads like wildfire, jokes mutate into threats, and morality dissolves into a game of psychological warfare, disinformation, and mass manipulation.

Unsurprisingly, Eddington has sharply divided critics-and will likely do the same with audiences. Expect fiery debates. Some will praise its fearless ambition; others will dismiss it as bloated, incoherent, or pretentious. And honestly, that may be exactly what Aster intended.

As always, his visual storytelling is exceptional. Darius Khondji's cinematography (Uncut Gems, The Immigrant) balances the film's absurdity and dread with a sharp, immersive eye. Lucian Johnston's editing keeps the pacing surprisingly taut, especially for a film that thrives on disorientation.

Aster's visual language for violence remains as potent as ever. When revenge time comes, it hits with darkly funny moments-especially during 'The Antifa Massacre,' which delivers shocking laughs and gory satisfaction in true Ari Aster fashion.

But after all that-did I like it?

There's brilliance in Eddington-but perhaps brilliance trapped in a maze of its own ambition, leaving something essential just out of reach.

The ride remains undeniably compelling. Ari Aster remains one of the most fascinating directors working today.

But, as with Beau Is Afraid, he tests the limits of narrative and patience. There's brilliance in Eddington, but there's also a sense of something missing-maybe too much of everything, all at once.

This isn't a comfort film to watch. It won't leave you with a clear head. In fact, you'll probably leave the cinema clutching your skull, trying to piece together the fragments.

My advice? Watch it with a good friend-or a few-who appreciate psychologically demanding cinema.

Because once the screen fades to black, the real film begins-in your head, and in the conversations that follow.