#REVIEW: “EDDINGTON”

Review by Nicholas Porteous for Mr. Will Wong

In 2020, in a fictional Texas town, one sheriff (Joaquin Phoenix) struggles with the minor inconvenience of wearing a mask to prevent the spread of a deadly virus. Meanwhile, the Mayor of Eddington (Pedro Pascal) seems totally fine with the minor inconvenience of wearing a mask to prevent the spread of a deadly virus. I suppose this town ain’t big enough for the both of ’em. Ari Aster‘s Eddington is an attempt to crystalize and look back at a monumental moment in human history–a time we’re just barely removed from in the present day–only beginning to reckon with COVID‘s social, cultural and political impact. Aster spends the majority of his epic’s 2.5-hour runtime building a tinder box, cramming it with characters on every ‘side’, and finally lighting the thing on fire. It’s a movie about paralysis, the inevitable shattering of norms when everything’s been stuck in place for too long, and where we might be headed in the wake of such a sea change. It’s an undeniably dense and ambitious, top-down drone’s eye view of humanity–but does it actually work as a movie? Let me set some expectations before we even attempt to lasso Aster’s meaning.

Despite its stacked Ensemble (I haven’t even mentioned Emma Stone, Austin Butler and a legion of talented young Supporting Actors rounding out the Cast), and an archetypal tale of political rivalry, I can’t say I found Eddington engaging in the way you’d expect a self-proclaimed ‘truly modern Western’ to be. It spends so much time establishing a world we’ve only just moved beyond, and relies so heavily on off-screen events to push the story forward, while leaning into drawn-out scenes laden with subtext–only made clear after repeated, veiled references. I’m convinced Aster is assuming you’ll watch his Movie twice, because so much of it only makes sense after the fact–and even then, there are more than a few question marks. He demands your full attention to unravel his puzzle, but seems unconcerned with earning that attention on a scene-by-scene basis. Tonally, Eddington feels very much like a counter to Beau is Afraid–the non-stop phantasmagorical rollercoaster of absurdly rendered neuroses. Eddington plays less like a movie and more like a political diorama, or a living monument intended to symbolize 2020 and beyond. While it features its own share of insane imagery, it’s very much grounded in our world. Granted, in our world the line between reality and satire is often invisible.

Aster‘s attempts to skewer every shade of the 2020 political spectrum dilute his potentially sharp take, and I felt a bit icky about his framing of BLM as a means of white virtue signaling. Cynically manipulating political trends for personal gain is a facet of any movement, but barely manifesting the substance of the movement in a time capsule like this feels more than a little bleh. Aster also barely mentions Trump, which is a glaring blind spot for a movie so concerned with rendering this exact moment. I was concerned by the ‘both-sides’ sane washing of Eddington. While its conclusion suggests something a bit more in tune with where we truly are, I think Aster might be dropping the ball by treating the brainwashed with kid gloves, and focusing harder on the perceived absurdity of those seeking to correct historical injustice. I suppose Eddington could be read less as a political statement and more of a chilling gaze into how modern ideologies are exploited for power, leaving anything resembling a virtuous meaning in the dust. On first viewing, it’s too shapeless, unfinished, and inconclusive. But as a massive Hereditary and Midsommar stan, I can’t help but feel there must be more to unlock here, and I’ll have to revisit Eddington some day. Maybe it’ll make more sense in 2028?

VVS Films release EDDINGTON Friday, July 18, 2025.