Eddington
With Eddington, the first nameable title premieres in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival: A24 wunderkind Ari Aster’s latest concoction, featuring a cast that includes none other than Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone and Austin Butler.
The year is 2020. Policies on how to combat the Covid pandemic divide neighbouring towns in a New Mexico county. Joe Cross, the sheriff of Eddington (Phoenix), doesn’t believe in face masks. He handles their enforcement rather lackadaisically in his jurisdiction, much to the chagrin of Mayor Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal). The men’s conflict predates the pandemic, but it escalates when Cross decides to run against Garcia in his re-election bid.
After confronting what felt like an incredibly specific – possibly personal – nightmare in Beau Is Afraid, Aster now makes his audience relive a time we all remember, and which many – admittedly privileged – people describe as the worst months of their lives. Because of its modern setting (and the absence of horses), it may take a while for the audience to realise they are, in fact, watching a Western – or more accurately, a bold redefinition of the genre. The way talking points of right- and left-wing extremism are pitted against one another may come across as deeply cynical, but it works: driving the plot, underpinning the film’s comedy, and substantiating what Alex Garland sought to express with Civil War. When humanity is lost, nobody wins.
Eddington marks the second time Phoenix and Stone have been romantically linked on screen, and the pairing feels just as off as it did in Woody Allen’s Irrational Man – but that’s precisely what Aster intended. The cold marriage bed is what makes Joe Cross roll over onto his side and doomscroll himself to sleep, and it’s what ultimately pushes his wife into the arms of a vocal conspiracy theorist (Butler). While his previous collaboration with Aster may have demanded more from his acting arsenal, Phoenix once again manages to make a performance of spiralling out of control feel engaging and alive.
A significant portion of the feature’s 145-minute runtime is devoted to setup – establishing the town of Eddington, the characters’ relationships, and their convictions. While there is a payoff for all the information the viewer absorbs, one is left with the impression that a tighter edit might have resulted in a smoother overall viewing experience.
Because Eddington takes such a sardonic stance, fires shots in all directions, and isn’t TikTok-digestible the way Midsommar was, it will likely struggle to match the success of Aster’s breakout films. Any backlash, however, should not deter viewers from giving this film a chance – risky endeavours like this deserve to be rewarded: by being seen.
Selina Sondermann
Eddington does not have a release date yet.
Read more reviews from our Cannes Film Festival coverage here.
For further information about the event visit the Cannes Film Festival website here.
Watch the trailer for Eddington here:
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