Eddington

Director: Ari Aster
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone, Austin Butler, Luke Grimes, Deirdre O'Connell, Micheal Ward, Amélie Hoeferle, Clifton Collins Jr., William Belleau, Matt Gomez Hidaka, Cameron Mann, Rachel de la Torre
Running Time: 149 min.
Rating: R

★★★ (out of ★★★★)  

A local mayoral race turns ugly in writer/director Ari Aster's ambitiously bizarre Eddington, a film that holds a mirror up to all the social and political turmoil over the past five years. And for those who patiently waited for a big screen effort to tackle the pandemic and all the controversial chaos surrounding it, your day has come. Now with a little distance to reflect on that tragic absurdity, the creative mind behind Heriditary, Midsommar and Beau is Afraid responds with a gloriously inscrutable mess that ties viewers in knots trying to decipher its intentions. 

Part multi-character study, part Western, part crime thriller and all satire, it's set in a universe where everyone's a lunatic, regardless of where their beliefs or convictions fall. It's also unpredictable, surprising by just how much its initially limited scope expands once the complications pile on, revealing the worst in human nature. Not without its flaws and prone to flying off the rails, Aster entertainingly makes up for it with some wild performances and an off-the-wall premise that cleverly skewers the current culture wars.

It's 2020 and Mayor Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal) has implemented a lockdown in the town of Eddington, New Mexico in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, enforcing mask mandates supported by the Governor. This policy raises the ire of sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix), who believes it's trampling on citizen's freedoms and makes plans to run against Ted in the upcoming election, despite disapproval from his emotionally unstable wife Louise (Emma Stone) and her conspiracy theorist mom, Dawn (Deirdre O' Connell). 

While Joe unsuccessfully tries to maintain law and order alongside officers Guy (Luke Grimes) and Michael (Micheal Ward), Ted's son Eric (Matt Gomez Hidaka) and his friend Brian (Cameron Mann) join the town's Black Lives Matter protests to win the affections of progressively liberal classmate Sarah (Amélie Hoeferle). With protests getting out of hand, Louise and Dawn inviting enigmatic cult leader Jefferson Peak (Austin Butler) into Joe's home as he tries to derail Ted's re-election bid. But when a single, shocking act of violence occurs, more trouble arrives at Eddington's doorstep, unexpectedly threatening the lives of its residents.

That the film's first twenty minutes centers entirely around an ongoing argument over masks should give you an idea what we're in for. It's clear in the very first scene when Joe's reprimanded by neighboring law enforcement before getting into another confrontation with Mayor Ted at a bar and supermarket, lighting the fuse that further ignites their bitter rivalry. And they have a long history, most of which stems from Joe's inability to get over Louise's previous relationship with Ted. But once Joe clumsily declares his mayoral candidacy out of pure spite, all bets are off, just as Eddington spirals out of control following  George Floyd's murder. 

In taking us back to a year we still haven't really moved past, the narrative evolves into a feature length South Park episode where only extremes exist and every group's a target for mocking. Whether it's anti-maskers or white BLM protesters, Aster get his shots in, and while a lot of the characterizations are intentionally exaggerated for satirical effect, this wouldn't work without the recognizable truths accompanying it. But it's Joe's complete lack of impulse control and common sense that causes him to make a spectacularly stupid decision, opening the floodgates to hell for his small town.

Between murders, racism, anti-racism, police corruption, conspiracy theories, cults and Antifa, Aster throws everything he can at the wall and a lot of it actually sticks. Against your better judgment, it's tough to look way, especially during a violent, action packed shootout that recalls A24's other politically charged take on the times, Alex Garland's underappreciated Civil War. But where that film had a clearer, more sober mission statement, this fluctuates wildly between over-the-top satire and drama, often calling into question how it all fits. 

It's really the direction and performances that hold it together, further solidifying Joaquin Phoenix's twisted genius in the kind of quirky, eccentric role no one does better, flawlessly juggling the dangerous and comical at once. A somewhat underutilized Stone and Butler steal the scenes they're given while the perfectly cast Pascal justifies his alleged overexposure with a terrific supporting turn as this potentially crooked mayor in bed with big tech. 

Inching toward a violent conclusion with no absolutes and only shades of grey, this highlights just how far the political landscape has shifted since over a decade ago, when much of this material would have played as pure fantasy. Even if a twist late in the game forces viewers to reevaluate what they've seen in the context of a JD Vance or Kyle Rittenhouse origin story, attempting to extract a right or left wing agenda seems beside the point. While spitting out enough ideas to leave us wondering what it's trying to say, Aster instead captures the anxiety and paranoia gripping the country with an equally divisive film that's well worth the watch.