Eddington (2025)
The star rating system for movies has its benefits, but there are times when it's inadequate. Such is the case with writer-director Ari Aster's (Hereditary, Midsommar) new film Eddington.
The film's title is the name of a small
town in New Mexico. It's late May 2020 and much of the town is shut down due to
the COVID-19 pandemic. The town's sheriff (Joaquin Phoenix) is a conservative
asthmatic who bristles against the mask mandate. The town's mayor (Pedro
Pascal) is for strict COVID-19 rules, even though his son sometimes breaks them
to hang out with his friends. The sheriff has problems at home, too. His wife
(Emma Stone) is a survivor of sexual abuse as a child and is falling under the
spell of an online guru (Austin Butler) spouting an array of conspiracy
theories.
Where the star system fails Eddington
is that the first 90 or so minutes of the film (it runs 148) are terrific.
Aster and his cast create believably human characters and vividly depict the
misery of 2020 when it seemed like everyone lost their minds to varying degrees—and
how the increased time everyone spent online contributed to that. It shows how
people also try to advance their own personal interests while hiding behind
causes or issues. The sheriff and the mayor aren't just fighting about COVID
issues; they have a personal history. Some of the film's young activists
organizing protests after George Floyd's murder are doing it for romantic
reasons or to raise their profiles on social media. There's a lot of people
behaving badly, but, in the first 90 minutes, they all feel recognizably human.
Around the 90-minute mark, the film
takes a sharp turn into more violent territory (avoiding getting into more
specifics to stay away from spoilers). It's not terrible, but it feels like a
different movie than the sharply observed drama that preceded it, and that's a
shame. However, Eddington is a film that takes genuine risks, and that's
admirable in an era of franchises and reboots.
