‘Eddington’ Takes Big Swings And Connects

Is it too soon for a character drama that takes place during the onset of COVID? Are you ready for social distancing, lockdowns, mask mandates, and all of their accompanying conspiracy theories to be plot points in a film? Is it too soon to find the absurdist humor buried in the crazed antics of Americans under pandemic pressure? If so, then Eddington, the new film from writer/director Ari Aster (Hereditary, Midsommar), may not be your cup of tea. I, on the other hand, found the film to be a compelling, insightful and frequently hilarious look at how our country has lost its collective mind over the past six years.

The film opens in the small town of Eddington, New Mexico during the early days of COVID, where Sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix) is openly violating the mask mandate issued by the Governor. Mayor Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal) chastises the sheriff for blatantly ignoring the law while being the head of local law enforcement. In one scene, Sheriff Cross strides unmasked through the local grocery store. When he encounters a masked shopper who doesn’t approve of his noncompliance, he informs her that the Governor’s edict is a recommendation and not a law, and he’ll do as he sees fit unless the local city council officially passes an ordinance requiring masks. Sound familiar?

As the Sheriff tries to enforce curfews and lockdowns, and the Mayor tries to enforce mask mandates, and each ignores the other, tensions grow until Sheriff Cross spontaneously announces his intention to unseat Garcia as mayor. A philosophical war of words becomes an acrimonious political race in small town America.

Every movement, protest group and fringe ideaology is present and accounted for. Sheriff Cross’ mother-in-law is waist deep in internet “research”, uncovering one crazy conspiracy after another. His wife (Emma Stone) becomes enamored with a traveling religious zealot (Austin Butler). Mayor Garcia’s son joins the Black Lives Matter movement to use his newly-found social awareness to meet girls. And there may be Anitfa terrorists lurking somewhere in the background, but that could also just be the ravings of Sheriff Cross’ mother-in-law.

Between Paul Thomas Anderson (The Master, Inherent Vice) and Ari Aster (Beau is Afraid), Joaquin Phoenix appears to have found his cinematic soulmates. Make fun of the obsessiveness of Method Acting all you like, but Phoenix’s performance in Eddington is unlike any other in his career. I’ll be the first person to point out the little irritating tics, quirks and affectations that often feel tacked on to a “Method” performance. From his posture, his movements, his diction and his line readings, he becomes Sheriff Cross and carries the film with apparent ease. It’ll be interesting to see if Oscar voters remember a performance from July when it comes time to cast their ballots. Then again, they remembered Cillian Murphy’s work in Oppenheimer, a July 2023 film.

Ari Aster proved himself a master of suspense in the horror genre with his 2018 tale of the occult, Hereditary. While Eddington is more character drama meets crime film, that same sense of dread remains. With the addition of each agenda, each passionate cause that grows more and more aggressive as its members grow more agitated, the tension in the film increases. The audience knows we’re on the verge of violence, but we just don’t know what form it’s going to take. (And I certainly won’t reveal that here.)

In a film landscape where reliance on tropes and cliches leads to a predictable time at the movies, Ari Aster marches to the beat of his own, often deranged, drummer. Anytime I thought I had Eddington nailed down, it gleefully veered in another direction. Kudos to editor Lucien Johnston who keeps the 148-minute film moving at a clip. It never stalls.

It’s hard to satirize the crazy times we live in. The nightly news is already beyond belief. When reality has jumped the shark, how do you satirize anything? Despite that, Ari Aster has created a compelling drama with a dark streak of absurdist humor running through it. Whether I was laughing at his depiction of the folly of my fellow man, or sitting on the edge of my seat during the film’s darker moments, I was always fully engaged.

As I waited for the lights to go down and my Eddington screening to begin, my post on social media said, Tonight’s screening is sure to be thought provoking. It was a safe prediction. Even a big misfire from an auteur like Aster was guaranteed to prompt discussion. Instead, he gave us one of the best films of the year so far.