‘Eddington’ Review: Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal Shoot Blanks in Ari Aster’s Neo-Western, Which Confuses Absurdism With Incoherence

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2020 saw an unprecedented period of confusion and instability during the initial months of the COVID-19 lockdown, when cities turned eerily quiet and people, suddenly isolated, began to jeopardize their mental wellbeing by immersing themselves in online life and purchasing items recommended by social media trends. This is the perspective presented in Ari Aster’s Eddington, a film that examines this collective national stress through the lens of a fictional small town in New Mexico. In essence, it blends elements of a modern Western with a touch of dark humor, but fails to deliver either suspense or laughter effectively. Primarily, it’s a laborious exercise in distancing itself from its audience.

Following the brilliantly chilling horror masterpieces Hereditary and Midsommar, talented director-screenwriter Aster delved into more intimate themes with the complex journey of Beau Is Afraid. This film takes viewers on a descent into the depths of one’s psyche, filled with haunting visuals reminiscent of nightmares and poignant moments of raw masculine vulnerability. However, despite these compelling aspects, the movie seemed to provide more self-fulfillment for the filmmaker than satisfaction for the audience.

Aster’s fourth production exhibits some notable similarities to its previous one. It’s expansive, indulgent, meandering, extravagantly ambitious, and surprisingly peculiar, yet so overflowing that it transforms into an overwhelming mix of confusing and dull.

The director bombards the screen with numerous thoughts on topics such as American history, racial tension, political conflicts, social protests, and false information, among others. However, many of these thoughts fail to develop any substantial arguments beyond the idea that people often create chaos in their lives when given free rein, metaphorically and concretely.

Eddington critiques both self-righteous liberalism and corrupt conservatism, yet it’s so cautious not to express a clear political viewpoint that its criticisms often miss their mark. Additionally, it assigns talented actors to challenging roles that are difficult for audiences to connect with emotionally, leaving us struggling to find characters we care about. It returns us to that strange summer five years ago without providing a new or insightful perspective on the events.

During the turbulent period in late May of 2020, spanning from days to weeks, the movie features Joaquin Phoenix reprising his role as Sheriff Joe Cross of Sevilla County. In this instalment, he is initially stopped by Indigenous sheriff Butterfly Jiminez (played by William Belleau) and his deputy within the boundaries of the Santa Lupe Pueblo, as he had entered without wearing a mask.

Joe, who has asthma and often struggles to breathe, finds it challenging to wear a mask. This issue mirrors the predicament faced by stubborn elderly individuals, who are sometimes denied entrance to supermarkets, as they line up outside, maintaining a safe distance of six feet from one another while waiting to shop.

Joe’s stance against wearing masks conflicts with Mayor Ted Garcia (played by Pedro Pascal), who is pro-mask and strict about social distancing. This mayor, who’s running for re-election, is cooperating with the New Mexico governor to expedite permits for a large artificial intelligence data center. Ted believes this project will generate wealth and jobs for the struggling town, while some residents view it as another burden on their scarce resources, especially water, due to an ongoing drought.

In the movie, there are numerous tense encounters between Joe and Ted, yet none of them seem to challenge the actors too much or offer a humorous twist on classic Western standoffs.

For a short while, Aster manages to captivate our attention through the chaotic symphony of online noise – from coding specialists detecting sinister patterns dating back to 1956 in a theory suggesting masks aid child trafficking, odd headlines such as “Is Hillary at Gitmo?”, and Dawn (Deirdre O’Connell), Joe’s mother-in-law, using extensive pandemic drills at Johns Hopkins two years prior as proof that the entire situation was deliberately orchestrated.

Dawn, who has extended her stay beyond the intended duration of a temporary lockdown, is more than just a problem for Joe at home. His wife Louise (Emma Stone), known for creating eerie puppet dolls, deals with mental health issues stemming from past traumas such as sexual abuse and being pressured into an abortion at 16. She appears so delicate and vulnerable that it seems she might disappear any moment.

As a fervent admirer, I’d express it this way: The town’s tension has been inflamed significantly following the escalation of Black Lives Matter demonstrations, sparked by George Floyd’s tragic death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. Unfortunately, Joe and his deputies, Mikey (Michael Ward) and Guy (Luke Grimes), find themselves right in the thick of it. A video capturing an altercation between the sheriff and a violent homeless man (Clifton Collins Jr.) has spread virally, fueling claims of police brutality.

In the movie, Eric (Matt Gomez Hidaka), the mayor’s son, along with his friend Brian (Cameron Mann), become involved with Sarah (Amélie Hoeferle), a passionate protest activist. A humorous moment occurs when Brian expresses his newfound political views during dinner, saying, “We’re transforming institutions, dismantling whiteness and preventing it from being rebuilt.” This leaves his father, who is white himself, bewildered, leading him to ask, “What? You’re white!

The humor is quite apparent, yet amusing indeed. In a public setting, Brian playfully suggests that white people should start listening, followed by, “I’ll certainly do the same once I wrap up this talk.

Joe boosts the temperature in the city by declaring he’s challenging Ted for the mayoral position, pledging to revive businesses and abolish restrictive mandates. His campaign catchphrases (“It’s time to liberate our hearts”) are mirrored by typos on his vehicle, such as “You are being manipulated.

He unfairly tarnishes his opponent by exploiting Louise’s past traumas, which might make her an easy target for Vernon Jefferson Peak (Austin Butler)’s cult. This cult, led by Vernon who claims that his own experience of being trafficked into a pedophile sex ring gives him the ability to empathize with others in pain, could potentially sway Louise.

To clarify, Eddington is brimming with activity, especially when despair breeds political murders and a surge in gun violence. Sheriff Jiminez from Pueblo begins suspecting Joe, not merely as a simpleton but potentially a crook. However, despite all the interwoven strands of events, they seem to lack substance.

Perhaps it’s implied that despite the lockdown, we may not have gained significant insights into our national issues, or any insights we did gain were soon lost, making the ending of a nearly three-hour film seem overly straightforward or superficial.

In this film, every actor delivers as expected, yet no performance truly shines exceptionally, except for Phoenix’s unique slurred speech and weary demeanor as Joe, which gives the impression that his character is starting to fall apart even before the plot begins. The cinematography is satisfactory, but given the talented Director of Photography Darius Khondji working in the visually dramatic landscape of New Mexico, it lacks a distinctive flair.

As a gamer, I’ve found Bobby Krlic and Daniel Pemberton’s ominous score to perfectly complement the unsettling vibe that runs through all of Aster’s films. However, while Hereditary, Midsommar, and even Beau is Afraid managed to creep me out with their chilling narratives and jarring visuals, Eddington just left me feeling irritated and unfulfilled.

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2025-05-16 23:25