‘Eddington‘, the fourth film by American director Ari Aster, reminded me in many ways of some of Romanian director Radu Jude’s recent films. Made in 2025, the film looks back at the first half of 2020, a period that seems at the same time very close (only 5 years had passed!) and simultaneously belonging to another historical era. Those were the first months of the pandemic, the United States and the entire planet were learning to confront the invisible and deadly virus and did so through more or less imposed isolations and masks. In addition, the USA, which was in an election year, was shaken by the George Floyd case and the incidents and demonstrations that followed. Like the Romanian director, Ari Aster, with this film, places before Americans a mirror in which many refuse to look – that of a polarized nation, haunted by ignorance and conspiracy theories and, above all, deeply divided. The world was beginning to change irreversibly. Like Jude, Ari Aster shows his viewers a gallery of situations and social relationships that is as colorful and sometimes exaggerated (but exaggeration is an artistic tool), as it is essentially true. Annoyingly true, especially since – unlike many other thesis films of politically correct Hollywood – Aster refuses to guide his viewers towards conclusions.
If I were forced to categorize this film, I would classify it as a contemporary western. The story takes place in an imaginary town in the desert of the American Southwest, on the edge of a reservation of the Indian nation that probably once populated the entire region. The main character, a sheriff named Joe Cross, faces a corrupt mayor who is trying to impose the construction of a data center for a large corporation. The two are separated not only by an economic conflict, but also by one of principles (Joe is an individualist and does not want to impose on citizens the restrictions of the pandemic) doubled by a personal history related to Joe’s wife. The city’s youth are more concerned with racial incidents in the rest of America, trying to replicate locally what they see on television. Joe’s decision to enter politics and run for mayor will lead to a sequence of events in which chaos seems to take over the entire city.
Viewers could view the characters in this film as a microcosm of the whole of America. I would be cautious about looking for a precise key, because the script (also written by Ari Aster) emphasizes exactly the anarchy of the situations and the disorientation of the characters, who seem incapable of resolving their differences through methods other than violence. Aster does not shy away from creating uncomfortable and shocking situations to describe an uncomfortable and shocking reality. Joaquin Phoenix creates another one of his atypical roles. The portrayal is complex and the surprising evolution of the character is constantly interesting and credible. Emma Stone doesn’t get the chance at a fully defined role, the personal history of her character with her husband’s political rival seemed confusing to me. The entire cast does a good job by drawing the contours of a sick community. The cinematography by Darius Khondji, a three-time Oscar nominee, is exceptional – adapted to the tone of the film, carefully following the characters and building expressive and spectacular visual metaphors. ‘Eddington‘ is a film that manages to say a lot about America at the beginning of the third decade precisely because it does not aim to demonstrate something or impose one vision or another, but presents the audience with the image of what the filmmaker saw with his own eyes.