Eddington? Steven says 4/5

Ari Aster’s most terrifying film yet isn’t a horror movie

Most people predicted that Ari Aster would be the next golden boy in horror after his debut feature film Hereditary and 2019’s Midsommar. He enjoyed trauma, grief, and seeing white women scream while wearing flower crowns. But if Beau is Afraid cracked the mold, Eddington completely obliterates it.

Dubbed as a tense, small-town conflict between the sheriff and mayor of Eddington, New Mexico, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the movie's marketing prepares you for a chaotic quarantine and a pressure cooker of political egos. But Aster only shows us act one in the trailer. What unfolds is a three-act descent into madness: part political commentary and part murder investigation, before turning into complete chaos in the end.

Let’s get this out of the way: it still feels too soon to be making films about the pandemic. There’s something mildly unhinged about watching actors in N95s argue about social distancing while most of the general public is still processing what actually happened in real life. While Eddington nails the hysteria and paranoia of those early months with disturbing accuracy, it also begs the question: are we ready to watch it played back like a black comedy fever dream? For some, the answer will be a hard no.

That said, I absolutely loved this film.

What Aster is doing here is definitely brave. Eddington doesn't want to be liked by everyone. It is confrontational, satirical, grotesque, and very cynical. You will either love it or hate it; there is no middle ground, and I respect that.

Joaquin Phoenix, playing the town’s morally compromised sheriff, turns in another phenomenal performance. He brings the same physical weirdness and emotional unease that made Beau is Afraid work, but here it’s sharpened and weaponized. Watching him unravel as the town does the same is equal parts hilarious and horrifying.

It will always put a bad taste in my mouth to see political commentary through the eyes of a white man, but Aster seems to know what he's doing. The movie makes you feel uncomfortable. It soaks in the awkwardness. It makes you want to laugh at things that aren't funny. Then it turns around and reminds you how real all of this was.

The ending is depraved. The structure is chaotic. The comedy is pitch black. And honestly? Maybe social media really did ruin society.

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