There is *a lot* going in Ari Aster’s newest feature, Eddington, and it feels like he almost should’ve taken the Yorgos Lanthimos’ trick with Kinds of Kindness and made this an anthology movie that all tied together one way or another. There is so much happening, intercut with each other, and then side stories that makes this adventure a little too adventurous and too much to fully be on board with it but by no means does this mean it’s a bad movie. There is just *too* much happening throughout the movie, but eliminating any one story from the overall purpose of Eddington the movie wouldn’t work – think Beau is Afraid but around COVID and what it did to society as a whole but amplified – it’s a lot to take in – but the end result leaves audiences as confused and conflicted.
The movie focuses on Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix) as he is the sheriff in Eddington, New Mexico and lives with his wife Louise (Emma Stone) and her mother Dawn (Deirdre O’Connell) during the pandemic, and things start to get tense. It takes a while to reveal what the issue is between Louise and Eddington Mayor, Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal) but it all comes out during an explosive fight between Joe and Ted when Joe decides to run for mayor as he refuses to comply with covid restrictions. Juxtaposing all of this mayoral battle is a descent into human psyche as Joe is slowly losing his grip as he doesn’t want to comply with covid regulations, being antagonised by Ted’s son Eric (Matt Gomez Hidaka), his friend Brian (Cameron Mann) and the girl caught in their love triangle Sarah (Amele Hoeferle). Joe has the help of his two deputies, Guy (Luke Grimes) and Michael (Michael Ward) but things start twisting and turning when a group they’re referring to as ANTIFA starts wrecking havoc, and protests take over the town of Eddington.
While all of this is also happening, Dawn is a conspiracy theorist who eventually brings Louise on board and exposes her to the word of Vernon (Austin Butler) who brainwashes Louise and creates the rift between her and Joe even further while exploring the truth behind her traumatic past. There is a lot happening in Eddington, and it all works, just when it comes together it becomes a little messy and hard to explore and concentrate into something overly cohesive. The most explosive moment happens about 90 minutes into the movie, where the audience then has almost a part two of the movie in the final hour confusing audiences slightly further, but it all works – just makes it slightly messy and convoluted.
Ari Aster has made compelling film after compelling film between Hereditary, Midsommar and Beau is Afraid – its clear people have made their minds up on if they’re a fan of his work or not by now. However, Eddington is arguably his most divisive film yet – while Beau is Afraid certainly pushed boundaries and begged the question of sanity – Eddington throws a lot at the wall and wants it all to stick and it does, some of it just peels off and become a messy final product. Thankfully, throughout the chaos it is all anchored by some top tier performances from the main cast and some of the supporting cast.
Joaquin, Pedro, Austin, and Matt are all fantastic in Eddington. Their performances are the lifeblood and back bone of the movie, managing to evoke emotion, argument, and self reflection about the content of the movie and the characters themselves – truly a fantastic ensemble cast that helps curate the message Aster wants to convey and a look at the political landscape we’ve been living in since the beginning of covid. While Mann, Grimes, Stone and Ward are also really good in their roles, they just have less to do in the background with Mann being the most prominent and delivering the best performance amongst them all. Austin Butler whose truly in a supporting role is downright haunting as his conspiracy theorist madman and truly is convincing in the role. The cast of Eddington is the last thing to blame about the unbalanced circus act that Aster conceives here, it is his playground and sandbox we’re involved in but his sandbox is too deep, overflowing on all sides and missing some nails to keep it contained.
