This confirms Aster as one of America’s most provocative auteurs, as he uses a fictional town on the brink of the coronavirus to capture the post-2020 zeitgeist of rage-baiting politics, the toxicity of social media and post-truth nihilism, backed by a sensational turn by Joaquin Phoenix.

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The selection of Ari Aster’s new film to compete for the Cannes Palme d’Or was very much an acknowledgement of his status as one of America’s most exciting auteurs working today, whose brand of provocative themes, sublime world-building and dramatised intensity continues to set him apart from his peers of his generation (he hasn’t even turned 40). 

I love Eddington as much as his similarly divisive Beau Is Afraid (2023)—in fact, I think both films reveal Aster to be a maturing filmmaker who is very much engaged with not just the codes of genre but the state of the world today.  Or more precisely, the state of America. 

Eddington is a fictional town, and the film is a composite of many genres, including the Western, social realism and psychological thriller. 

But what makes it so effective is its dark comedy, which is so nihilistic and absurd (yet so painfully real) as Aster lays out all the rage-baiting politics of the left and right and lets them clash in this ‘simulated’ town. 

As the coronavirus is about to hit, and masks and social distancing become mandatory, the embattled Sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix) refuses to comply.  He also wants to run for mayor against the wily Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal). 

“What is it going to prove if you set your own f—ing neighbourhood on fire?”

Phoenix is batshit sensational, though he is a bit more restrained here than in Beau—perhaps another Oscar nomination might be on the cards?  He’s to Aster what Emma Stone is to Yorgos Lanthimos. 

Stone has a small supporting role as Joe’s reclusive wife, who seems to have suffered some past trauma and is unable to lead a normal life. 

Eddington captures the zeitgeist of the toxic post-2020 environment, as phones and social media become the go-to weapon of choice, documenting acts of grave offence, grassroots activism (sometimes misguided), or simply good ol’ teenage folly. 

If you are an Aster veteran by now, you would expect him to make jarring tonal shifts and narrative left-turns.  There is plenty to savour in that regard; in fact, it is his ability to shift gears bizarrely, thus leveraging unpredictability as his trademark, that makes him such an intriguing artist. 

He can be overconfident at times, and not everything works like hand in glove, but I like the way he thinks. 

Grade: A-

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