Whilst I was a fan of director Ari Aster's first two features, “Hereditary” (2018) and “Midsommer” (2019), I was not a fan at all of his third, “Beau Is Afraid”, which came out in 2023. With it's extended running time of three hours, I thought the film was a total wank-fest, and I also felt that Aster was starting to come across as though he thought himself superior to his audience, to the point that he felt condescending towards us. Almost like he thought his film's were smarter than they actually are, and if people didn't understand them, it was on them and their lack of intelligence rather than his skill as a director. As such, the shine of Ari Aster (in my mind) was starting to fade, and I was caring less and less about what he may be doing next. When “Eddington” was announced, I was aware of it, but learning that it was set during the recent covid pandemic gave me pause, as it was a time I wasn't sure I really wanted to go back to so soon, as it was such a difficult time to live through. Then the trailers were released and they did nothing for me, and once I saw that “Eddington” went for two and a half hours, I thought “here we go again.....”. But I still went to see the film, and LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT!, which was a massive surprise to me.
For those that do not know, “Eddington” is set in 2020 during the pandemic, and is about the local sheriff and mayor of Eddington, New Mexico, who end up butting heads over the way to handle the restrictions of the pandemic, which leads to a ticking time bomb of a situation between the two and the rest of the town. Joe, the sheriff, is a man who hates wearing a mask, and believes his basic rights are being taken away from him by these unnecessary restrictions, whilst Ted, the mayor, is the other side of the coin, and believes that the restrictions are necessary for the town to survive the pandemic and come out the other side of it. What I loved so much about the film was that it accurately portrayed just how tough the years of the covid pandemic really were, highlighting the divisions between friends and family (due to each person's individual opinion), as well as the chaos of the world that we experienced at that time. Things like the simple task of going to a supermarket to shop and the stress of that task, we once took for granted, is explored in a very honest fashion, but with enough time that has passed since the insanity that was the pandemic, Aster looks back at it with a somewhat comedic lens, as it becomes apparent just how insane and at times, silly, our life was like back then, and personally I found it very easy to laugh along while reminiscing with the film and comparing moments similar that took place in my own life.
I think what I was most impressed about “Eddington” though was the film's ambition, as it takes some truly wild narrative swings that I did not see coming at all, and Aster hits these out of the park. I understand that “Eddington” is a divisive film, and not everyone is as positive towards it as I am, and those that aren't likely dislike the film because of these moments, but I found the sharp turns in the story to be exhilarating, and what makes the film so special. As you can tell, I am being very careful not to ruin any of these moments, as they should be experienced without any prior knowledge as they come from nowhere and change the story's direction immediately because of it.
Another funny thing about “Eddington” and my feelings prior to seeing the film, was that despite how fantastic an actor Joaquin Phoenix is, I was in a very negative frame of mind towards him after he had dropped out of Todd Haynes's latest film at the last second causing it to collapse and not be made, which I thought was disgusting. That all said, he totally won me over with his portrayal of Sheriff Joe Cross in the film; he is absolutely outstanding in the film, and at times I also found him very funny in the role.
I know a lot of people have issues with the pacing of “Eddington” but this was not an issue for myself, as I thought the movie flowed beautifully and time passed quickly, despite yet another lengthy running time. Truthfully, I loved the characters of and situations that took place in the town of Eddington, that I was sad when the film actually ended. Whilst I would love to go into more detail regarding “Eddington”, to do so would have to involve spoilers which I am reticent to do, due to it destroying some of the shock value of the film's story, so I will just finish up by saying that I was totally surprised by how much I ended up loving Ari Aster's “Eddington”, and think the film did an excellent job of portraying and shining a light on both the social and political issues, either of a positive or negative nature, that came to fruition during the pandemic, in a very truthful but amusing way that made it palatable to go back in time and re-live a moment we all found incredibly hard to live through. The film is also filled with absolutely wonderful performances from Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal and Emma Stone.
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