EDDINGTON (2025)

More like edit this a ton, because this movie needed to be 1 hour 45 max. Too much happening but with little to no payoff. Set in May 2020 in the town of Eddington, New Mexico, Covid-denying Sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix) butts heads with the local mayor (Pedro Pascal) as tensions rise in the town. I’ve seen arguments that audiences don’t necessarily want to see a movie about lockdown so soon after lockdown, but I disagree. I think it’s important to have accounts written from recent memory, instead of those that are based on speculation, research, or distant memory. I’m sure down the line, in like 20 years, there will be a random lockdown movie that makes people think “Aw yeah, that happened, that was weird” with almost a tinge of nostalgia. But our blood was only recently boiled. If you turn the stove back on, those bubbles will rise a lot sooner. I think that’s important. I think that one of the things that Ari Aster did well was exploring how fucking crazy everyone felt, both internally and externally. I liked how he highlighted the different ways people coped with helplessness, be it getting sucked into conspiracy rabbitholes, or protesting everything at once. He struck a delicate balance in pointing out “See, everyone was crazy!” but you kind of can’t equate bootlickers open mouth coughing onto someone’s grandma with people saying “wow, there’s a lot of injustice in this world”. The Vernon (Austin Butler) subplot took too much time to only say “Sometimes, even when it feels like people will believe literally anything, they can sometimes stop and say, ‘Huh, don’t know about that one!’” Because, while I did appreciate having the mother-in-law (Deidre O’Connell) exhibit this doubt, they spent too much time with him. I also didn’t love the weird, militarized AntiFa group. Everything else in the film, up until their introduction, felt mostly grounded. I was almost expecting them to be a figment of Cross’ imagination. It felt like it was validating an in-universe conspiracy theory.

I was surprised with Officer Butterfly’s (William Belleau) scenes. When he notices the handwriting and takes off running, I assumed he was going to return to his own precinct to share the potential lead. Instead, he rushes to Cross’ house? Why? Then, later, when the big Heat shootout occurs and he dies, there doesn’t seem to be much follow up on whether Cross was a suspect. Did he never tell anyone? They wrap that part up a little too neatly. You’re going to make me sit through Lou’s (Emma Stone) weird ass C-storyline and you’re not going to explain what happened after the shootout? Fuck you. What about Michael (Micheal Ward)? Isn’t he going to say anything? The conclusion of the film that says “there is no longer good or evil, there is only money” was bleak and correct. It’s a bummer. It was a funny commentary to show the now essentially lobotomized Joe Cross as the new Mayor. People just do not give a shit any more. Was that the lesson of this movie? Did it have to take 2 and half hours to teach us?

The substory with the teenagers and Michael was better than the weird Lou storyline. I loved seeing Brian (Cameron Mann) get radicalized for pussy. I’d rather have a guy try and become an abolitionist for the chance to feel the touch of a woman than to hear about another Nazi incel shooter who blames women for his inability to socialize. To give Brian the Kyle Rittenhouse treatment was absolutely wild, but also tracks.

Pedro Pascal’s Mayor Ted Garcia was fine. Kind of glad he was a little bit of a dick, too. I was surprised when Joe shot him. It felt like an extreme reaction from an otherwise dickless man. 

I liked how this was done as a western. I think there really was a sense of “wild west” uncharted territory during lockdown that Aster taps into. There was a lot of admirable camera work and makeup/hair/costume design. One shot that I loved in particular was at the beginning when Joe approaches the bar, outside the window, and the camera follows him from inside the bar, stopping when Ted’s reelection poster is framed in our eyeline and Ted himself appears on the right side of the shot. I loved how it looked. The design for Joaquin Phoenix’s Sheriff character was brilliant. Just one look at those shitty little glasses and his goatee let you know exactly what this fucker’s politics are. Chef’s kiss. And topping it off with the cell phone holster? Magic.

It was a better movie than Beau Is Afraid (which I walked out of), but that’s not saying much. The movie itself was barely saying much. 

Food Recommendation: I’m going to recommend your favorite lockdown snack. You know, the one that you tried to convince yourself you didn’t need to have around the house, but then Instacart would make you get a certain dollar amount, so now you technically have to get it? And why not? The world is collapsing. What’s a few Doritos going to do?