Eddington
Cast: Joaquin Pheonix, Pedro Pascal,Emma Stone
Writer and Director: Ari Aster
The Covid pandemic in 2020 is something that everyone is still recovering from. Having the whole world being basically shut down for a year has affected the way we socialize with each other for years to come. We were stuck in our homes with only the people we knew and the politics and our interests more or less the same. This is the time where we saw the rise of the extreme right and the extreme left become more and more popular in our culture. This latest film from director Ari Aster(Hereditary) shows us that divide in this very unique dark comedy reflection of our times.
Our lead character in this modern western is Joe Cross(Pheonix) a Sheriff who is clearly not happy about the mask mandate in his town. His main antagonist is Ted Garcia(Pascal),The Mayor of Eddington and while both may not agree politically on many issues. It’s there past involving Joe’s wife Louise(Emma Stone) that has caused the most friction in their relationship. Being fed up at how he thinks the town is being run. Joe decides that he is going to run for Mayor against Ted in the upcoming election.
Adding to this pot boiler is the Black Lives Matter movement which became a huge thing everywhere after the tragic death of George Floyd by the hands of a police officer in Minneapolis, MN (my home town). The young kids in this small town want to fight against racism. But the only black person we see is Michael(Michael Ward) and he is part of Joe Cross’s unit.
There is a lot of tension building between both sides and based on your own personal politics. It will have you siding more with one character than another. Ari Aster doesn’t give us any easy solutions but only questions we can only begin to answer. Eddington wont be as shocking as his first two films Hereditary and Midsommar, but there are many moments that will surprise you. The acting from everyone is great including supporting cast members like Austin Buter as this crazed conspiracy cult leader, Vernon, Deirdre O’ Connell as Dawn, Louise’s mother, Ameile Hoeferle as a crazed social justice vlogger and Clifton Collins jr as Lodge, the town’s vagrant drunk.
Like Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing in 1989. Ari Aster’s Eddington will also ignite controversy from some critics. Some will say that it wrongfully portrays people from both sides as cartoonish or that it seems to take one issue over the other. It's clear that the intensions are to make fun of both liberals and conservatives. However, the far right gets a good bunch of the jokes made at their expense more, There is a lot of dark dry humor infused in this story of can't we all just get along tale. Not for everyone and that's why people have Superman or the new Fantastic Four movie to watch. This one will challenge you and that's a good thing.
I'm a proud member of the Minnesota Film Critics Association. Read my bio below.
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