Eddington

Remember 2020?

Whilst it can feel like a lifetime ago rather than a mere five years, Ari Aster wants to put you right back in that topsy turvy headspace in his colossal, nihilistic, long, batshit, relentless and epic Eddington.

Choosing to go back to this time and presenting it in this way will no doubt make this film divisive. Already, it seems for every five star review there’s another declaring it awful and it’ll be fascinating to see the general consensus and box office takings.

Ostensibly, on the surface, a set up that suggests a mayoral race between its current incumbent and the titular, fictional town’s Sheriff with the latter seemingly a little further away from the centre by refusing to wear a mask and housing his conspiracy theorist mother-in-law.

From that initial starting point, the story drops every unexpected thing you could imagine and touches on every hot button topic of those and these times.

Every character is flawed, every character seems to fit a certain convention or represent a certain segment of the internet and it’s a film that seemingly just wants to watch the world burn.

Therein perhaps lies what may be, depending on the viewer, its greatest strength or weakness. The lack of a clear throughline and message may deter some whereas the sheer gonzo nature of the ending and ‘f*ck everything’ mentality may be exactly what some want to see and could give the film greater legs in the long run.

It’s a corker of a script in the main with some cracking cinematography and, whilst a lot of the stacked cast are somewhat underserved, it still glistens with top notch acting headlined by another performance of brilliance by Joaquin Phoenix. His ability to present the downfall of an anti-hero/villain character whilst still eliciting sympathy is unrivalled.

So it’s certainly divisive, triggering and nuts but it also takes the pulse of the world right now and presents a horrifying and thrilling mirror up to the audience before setting fire to it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️