The latest film from Ari Aster, Eddington, is a wild ride. Set in May 2020, in the fictitious town of Eddington, New Mexico, Aster’s tale revolves around the trials and tribulations of Sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix). Joe Cross is a simple, moral man—an asthmatic with a healthy disrespect for Federales. Joe refuses to wear one of those flimsy surgical masks that tend to impede your breathing without providing much of anything else. Bullied out of the grocery store on a routine trip to buy his wife pain killers, Joe decides enough is enough and declares on social media his intention to run for mayor.
The current Mayor, Ted Dias (Pedro Pascal) is an empty suit who owns the local bar. Ted, when he’s not half assedly running the town, is selling it off for scrap money to big business interests. Currently, Ted is intent on bringing a massive server farm to Eddington. At the same time, Ted is trying his damnedest to keep his family safe and does not appreciate his son Eric’s (Matt Gomez Hidaka) attempts to go out and spend time with his best bud Brian (Cameron Mann) or this little blond activist Sarah (Amélie Hoeferle).
On Joe’s end, he has to deal with his wife Louise (Emma Stone), who is working on the trauma she experienced as a teenager. I will not detail this trauma, as it’s a major plot point for the film, gentle reader. Sufficed to say it’s quite the proverbial bad hand of cards Louise was dealt early in life. Since this is the height of the Pandemic – or as I like to call it ‘The Damn panic’ – Dawn (Deidre O’Connell), Louise’s mother, is staying with them. This odd arrangement will exist throughout the film.
Joaquin Phoenix plays Sheriff Joe Cross, a man pushed to his limits, in Ari Aster’s Eddington
“Joe decides enough is enough and declares on social media his intention to run for mayor.”
So, we have here the establishment of conflicts that one would find in your old time Western, translated to the contemporary day during the worst year any of us experienced, 2020, and the Damn panic. I’m certain, gentle reader, this film will stir conflicting emotions for many people who will view it. After all, between the ridiculous local, state, and federal ‘rules’ (note that nothing was ever hardwired into law), and the hypocritical acts of compliance merchants demanded, and the absurdity of the Black Lives Matter protests, Eddington is practically a dried tinderbox waiting for someone to light the fuse. And, as you may probably guess, Sheriff Cross is just the man to light the town aflame.
Gentle Reader, I loved the ever-loving snot out of Eddington. If ever there was a filmmaker who could capture our ridiculous lives, mostly spent staring like gap-mouthed Zombies into our cellphones, it’s Ari Aster. The layered social commentary available through TikTok shorts, Instagram Reels, and YouTube commentary is simply staggering. This is an essential film to encapsulate the sheer absurdity of that most atrocious year, when people sought to force compliance with rules that could never withstand Constitutional scrutiny.
Eddington would not satisfy the requirement of a Western if there weren’t a gunfight in the climax, and I’m happy to say a gunfight does indeed exist. While the transition to the fight is a bit sloppy, I would grant it a little grace, as it’s clear Aster has never blocked an action before. Grotesque blood splatter violence, yes. Actual gun combat? Not so much. That you can follow the actions of the Sheriff and other combatants in this gunfight is laudable.
If you need catharsis to release from the horrors of the Damn panic, seek Eddington out. Your mileage may vary with this film. It is undeniably a great effort from everyone involved. And it’s exceedingly, darkly funny. For a first attempt at a Western, I’d say Aster nailed it.
"…a wild ride..."
