Movie Scene: Covid-era chaos on a pandemic-level

The fourth film from Ari Aster (he of ‘Hereditary’ and ‘Midsommar’ fame) ‘Eddington’ brings audiences back to a time that surely they would rather forget. No, it’s not last Novembers US election result but rather it’s the dreaded Covid-19 pandemic.

Aster is definitely a polarising director and, full disclosure; I’ve never fully gotten on with any of his previous output. Would ‘Eddington’ fare any better?

The small town of Eddington, New Mexico, is in the full grip of 2020s Covid-19 pandemic; streets are virtually empty, social distancing and mask wearing are state-mandated. Mayor Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal) is a card-carrying member of the mask brigade and also up for election. Sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix) doesn’t believe in masks and, sick of laws governing masks, decides to run against Ted in the upcoming election whilst also dealing with disturbed wife Louse (Emma Stone) and conspiracy nut mother-in-law May (Deirdre O’Connell).

Thus two blokes on either side of the Covid divide fight to become mayor of a small town – sounds nice and clean doesn’t it? Well, this is an Ari Aster film so I’m afraid nothing is ever so simple.

Aster has taken an ambitious swing with ‘Eddington’ – which he also wrote – trying to balance political satire, pandemic paranoia and a Western into a coherent narrative over 149-minutes and that swing, in my eyes, doesn’t reach the fences. Had he just left it at the two fellas undermining each other in the race for mayor, ‘Eddington’ may have had more coherence than it does. Instead, Aster chooses to explore conspiracy theorists, Antifa, virtue-signalling Black Lives Matter teenagers, sexual abuse repressions and data centres through different conduits, adopting a ‘throw everything at the wall and see what sticks’ approach which only works in part. Thankfully, Aster never chooses a side, skewering all of them with equal contempt.

The shifting sands of the script are absolutely batty and occasionally give way to moments of laugh-out-loud moments and absurdity. ‘Eddington’ is overstuffed with plot strands which include Austin Butler’s Svengali-like YouTube huckster and a tonal shift that brings us a final hour murder mystery that frankly, we didn’t need. Aster does have one interesting observation regarding phones and the proposed building of a nearby data centre which only serves to fuel the disinformation fire but it barely gets mentioned throughout.

In fact, the loss of one major character around the 90-minute mark should have seen ‘Eddington’ wrapped up fifteen minutes thereafter. Instead, Aster decides he needs to go further in a burst of ‘look at me, ma’ hubris. The man has highfalutin ideas in ‘Eddington’ and he attacks them with some fury. However that fury, while looking good in Darius Khondji’s cinematography, is ultimately a muddled, sluggish affair.

The highlights are in the performances. Phoenix and Pascal are both great and Deirdre O’Connell has a great time as Phoenix’s conspiracy theorist mother-in-law May. Elsewhere double-Oscar winner Emma Stone is hugely disappointing but Butler makes the most of his one scene and ‘Empire of Light’ breakout Michael Ward also does well.

Some will certainly adore this film, and probably guffaw at the rest of us for ‘not getting it’ but even the most ardent Aster fan can’t deny it’s an over-indulgent exercise wrapped up in social commentary.