Directed By Ari Aster

Starring – Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone

The Plot -In May of 2020, a standoff between a small-town sheriff (Phoenix) and mayor (Pascal) sparks a powder keg as neighbor is pitted against neighbor in Eddington, New Mexico.

Rated R for strong violence, some grisly images, adult language, and graphic nudity.

Eddington | Official Trailer HD | A24

POSITIVES

For those of us with the unfortunate task of having lived through the Covid-19 pandemic, “Eddington” will serve as an unrestrained political satire about the hypocrisies and entitlement during such an unpredictable time, and one that ultimately served as the tipping of the scales for the sacrifice in humanity that we can never fully recover from. One thing is certain about the film: Aster abundantly and vividly did his homework on the atmosphere and societal disconnect of the depicted time, breeding the very paranoia and ominousness of the situation with these conversations that feel practically lifted from social media videos of the depicted age, all the while tapping effortlessly into the air of uncomfortable immersion that has made Aster one of the most prominent director’s of the contemporary age. In visual circumference, Aster and cinematographer Darius Khondji ignite this internalized restlessness that persists with tightly condensed framing and intentionally erratic editing schemes that constantly keep the audience and their expectations on their toes, with The Haxan Cloak and Daniel Pemberton underlining the tension and dread of this growing confrontation with compositional themes that echo the darkest depths to society’s deepest plunge, breeding just enough tragedy in the airborne absence of humanity that makes this film feel like a two-and-a-half hour episode of “The Twilight Zone”. As for the material, the script hits and misses quite often throughout the film’s frustrating engagement, but the satire always elicited quite a few laughs to my enjoyment, even if just for the unsubtle methods that Aster utilizes to point out the lunacies of the right and left, which only further maximized the aforementioned disconnect. Aster’s own commentary seems to nonchalantly highlight how every form of media serves as the fuel that ignites the fire of confrontation, and with the ironies of those fighting for social causes and individual freedoms that they directly contradict with the air of their own irresponsible actions, appraises a satisfying tilt of the reflective lens that Aster uses to outline their own convenient hypocrisies, attaining a much-appreciated comedic boost, at least during the film’s far superior first half, that at least kept my attention faithfully throughout the scatterbrained storytelling. As for the film’s second half, many problems come to light, but there is an unsung hero of sorts in the technical departments of sound design and special effects that surprisingly make this one of the most gruesomely grand gore gouges of the entire cinematic year, with these punctuated penetrations of automatic weaponry that bare such a distinct proximity to the audience’s coherence, whenever they collide with the many surrounding sets. While I expected the movie to take us down some darkly depressing avenues to the material, they continuously paled in comparison to these abrupt character resolutions that materialized with shock and gruesome detail within their suddenly sporadic arrivals, making a movie about a candidly real time in American history Aster’s single most violent movie to date. Lastly, the performances are unfortunately hit or miss in the air of this decorated ensemble, but I found Phoenix and Pascal to inspire an intensity and complexity to their respective portrayals, that made each of them such a compelling force of nature, despite depicting two characters who are anything but morally sound. Phoenix proves once again why he is one of the very best actors working today by not only disappearing into this emotionally overwhelmed sheriff whose own irresponsible actions overwhelm him with a thick anxiousness that feels palpably resonant, but also in surprisingly earning empathy for such a morally detestable character, and combine this with the charm and stoicism of Pascal feeling like the immovable object meeting Phoenix’s irresistible force, and you have all of the magnetism for a big screen showdown with universal stakes to such a small town setting.

NEGATIVES

While there is much to admire about Aster’s observations about a very vulnerable time in American history, the material and character studies never lead to anything deeper than a surface level exploration, or even a responsive commentary by the director, inspiring this frustratingly ambiguous emphasis in the air of his execution that incredibly fails so many compelling talking points into feeling like an overstuffed vacuum bag of opportunistic bullet points meant capture the attention of an audience. Black Lives Matter, pedophilia rings, police brutality, and political divide are just a few of the movie’s buffet of vocal points, and despite the fact that the runtime allows it two-and-a-half hours to pursue such a heft of thematic impulses, they all feel tragically underdeveloped and forcefully enacted as a result of the episodic approach paid to the material, appraising the least engaging kind of storytelling consistency that had me feeling every inch of that aforementioned run time and more, with periodic lapses in investment that surmised as a result of the mounting tediousness from feeling so overwhelmed from so many different angles. This frustration isn’t any easier with the characters or their causes, either, as the film has such a simplicity with its characterization that forcefully pits characters into two distinctive categories, the right or the left, without conveying the idea that there are people like me persisting who look at both sides as unleashed crazies. This is where the film utilizes convenience as a means to further evolve the conflict, as characters elicit actions that feel totally unearned and unbelievable in the situation called for them, and while I understand the intention is to show how unrelenting society became in a time that outlined our divide more than any other, I never felt like I got enough of a grasp on these characters to fully understand, even if not justifying, the air of their actions, leaving the urgency and stakes of the conflict completely unrealized without anyone in the way of a legitimate soul worth fighting for. Speaking of the characters, it seems like an opportune time to discuss the tragically unforgiveable ways they use two Academy-level actors, like Emma Stone and Austin Butler. Relegating these two to supporting roles that literally anyone else could play seems ridiculous enough, but it’s even worse looking back at the handful of scenes that was supposed to artistically echo why each of them sought out such thankless roles, but instead used as pawns to merely move forward Phoenix’s own situational conflicts, and in a film that could’ve used their dramatic flare and fiery intensity to appraise value to the proceedings, the script instead finds ways to keep them distanced from the focus of the film, leaving forgettable turns from two of Hollywood’s most familiar faces. Finally, as the ridiculousness grows to boiling levels within this small town, the ending drags on unnecessarily incessantly through final moments that seem to convey that nobody wins in a war, regardless of the scope of what’s being waged in fighting for. Considering “Eddington” is already a tough sell by immersing audiences in a traumatic time frame that they already lived through, the end can only be compared to watching your grandfather suffer in his most vulnerably frail state, and while I understand the intention is to show that the juice of hatred ultimately wasn’t worth the squeeze, the sequence drowns on for ten agonizing minutes, for what honestly could’ve been summarized in a quarter of that, leaving such an unimpressive lasting impression to a movie featuring so many shocking visuals and tender talking points, the likes of which fizzled out like a diffused firework during the grand finale

OVERALL
“Eddington” is a disjointedly overstuffed and thematically hyperbolic social satire that plays like a Wikipedia article of converged bullet points about the Covid-19 pandemic, unnecessarily covering a recent time in the memory of its audience, without anything close to a thought-provoking commentary to make us want to experience the darkness of devastating days all over again. While Aster’s usually discomforting direction feels perfectly ripe for the tensely inevitable unraveling of this small town, a two-and-a-half hour excavation into squandered storytelling and irredeemable characters tests patience quicker than his sequences can transition, leaving a frustratingly barebones exploit for Aster that masks its characters but never the symptoms that come back to haunt it.

My Grade: 5.8 or D+