This American drama tells the story of the conflicts engendered in a small US town that involves the town’s sherif and its mayor. The conflicts pit neighbour against neighbour in the town of Eddington, New Mexico, USA.
EDDINGTON. Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, Pedro Pascal, Deidre O’Connell, Austin Butler, Michael Ward, and others. Directed by Ari Aster. Rated MA15+. Restricted. (Strong themes and violence).148 min.
Review by Peter W Sheehan, Jesuit Media Australia
In 2020, societal friction erupts in the state of New Mexico which divides the communities in the fictional town of Eddington. Pandemic hysteria arises about the likely occurrence of “Covid”. In the threat of impending disease breaking out, racial division becomes rife; and aggression, social confusion, and mistrust erupt.
Eddington’s world-weary sherif, Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix), is called out to handle conflict that breaks out at the town’s hotel, and he wants to be elected to the position of the town’s current mayor, Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal). Cross and Garcia radically differ on how to assert responsible liberty. Conflict is heightened by what has happened between Joe’s wife, Louise (Emma Stone), and his mother-in-law, Dawn (Deidre O’Connell). Joe becomes increasingly unnerved about the probability of Covid, and his behaviour becomes irrational.
The film strongly depicts violence which satirically highlights probable health concerns. At times, the film’s violence is handled comically. Director, Ari Aster, plays fast and loose with medical and psychological strategies that potentially ward off the risk of contamination, and Aster flirts fearlessly and comically with Covid. Sherif Cross, for example, refuses to wear a mask that Mayor Garcia says is a “must”; and both continue to oppose each other on how behaviour should appropriately reflect personal “liberty” and proper “independence” as they are perceived.
The movie has been directed by Ari Aster as a microcosm of life in an age when Society is characterised by misinformation, ignorance, and irrational behaviour. The town of Eddington succumbs to social and cultural chaos. Conspiracy theories erupt everywhere, and people become easy victims of madness, where irrational behaviour is endorsed widely. Such a climate lays the foundation for an internet-guru in the movie and that occurs in a cult-like leader, Vernon Park (Austin.Butler), who engages in provocative behaviour through the movie. This is a film where humour, wit, and violence mingle readily with tension, irrationality, and emotional release. Park, for example, encourages his followers to recover memories of abuse they might have experienced.
The film is full of unsettling imagery, graphic language, violence, and nudity. The team of actors that has been assembled for the movie is exceptional, and the movie is intentionally directed very provocatively. Ari Aster has basically directed a film that liberally engenders paranoia in what it portrays, and the movie offers cogent satire of a culture, that hopefully won’t ever eventuate. The film itself, however, depicts a culture which could eventuate. If one sentence might summarise the film – the movie is breathtaking in its lack of humanity, brilliantly executed.
Reviewed by Peter W. Sheehan, an Associate of Jesuit Media