Why We NEed a MOVIE Like EddingTON RIGHT NOW

My roommate loves Ari Aster.  Hereditary is one of his top ten movies of all time, I have this confirmed.  He keeps trying to get me to see Midsommar, knowing how much I can’t stand horror movies.  He would say the death scenes are so beautifully shot that the movie transcends the genre.  I would say that the Wikipedia summary clearly describes the film as horror and that’s what I have to go by.

I don’t care if it is shot in the sun, it is still a horror movie! (A24)

Knowing my roommate’s love for Ari Aster movies, I’d suggested that we see Eddington.  Not only had I heard good things about the film; I also appreciated that I could finally see an Ari Aster movie without worrying that I’d be terrified for a week after seeing it, or that I’d spend an entire afternoon at a screening only to emerge from the theater in a deep state of confusion, and wishing I’d had my money back (which I’d gathered to be the experience from Beau is Afraid.  Keep in mind I did not see it out of my worry that I would be bored and confused.  It’s probably a good idea to see something for yourself so you can actually have that firsthand experience, of being bored and confused, or something else.  At least you’ve experienced the thing yourself).

Anyway, finally -- An Ari Aster movie!  Regardless of the critical reception of his prior three feature films, it’s undeniable they’ve made a cultural impact, for the strange and unusual ideas they present and their strong screenplays and the distinctive direction.  I’d already been exposed to Aster’s work through The Strange Thing About the Johnsons, a movie that I thought was one of the most fucked up things I’d ever seen, in a good way.  I remember the tone of that movie being so unusual and its vision so clearly expressed, in everything from the performances to the production design.  When watching it, even if I was incredibly uncomfortable, I found myself unable to look away, because the movie had me riveted. 

What a nice, wholesome family! (The Strange Thing About the Johnsons; Dir: Ari Aster)

It seems that one thing Ari Aster succeeds in doing throughout his work is making people uncomfortable.  What impresses me is how he’s been able to do this through what seems to be a very diverse body of work.  Maybe there are some common threads from The Strange Things About the Johnsons to Eddington.  Many of his films deal with dysfunctional families, the ones you’re born into (Johnsons, Hereditary, Beau) and the ones you find, and who find you (Midsommar, Eddington).  And those bonds we share with others can fracture and split.  From what I’ve read of Aster’s work, it’s this fracturing that forms the narrative crux of his movies.  And since I’ve seen Eddington, I’d say the same applies here.

Joaquin Phoenix is a sheriff in the small (fictional) town of Eddington, New Mexico.  In the first part of the movie, you see him have interactions with the other members of the town, everyone from the mayor (played by Pedro Pascal) to the bartender to the people who work at the grocery store.  He’s got a wife he deeply loves, and lives with his mother-in-law.  It’s not an ideal arrangement, but he has a life, and connections with other human beings, especially with his colleagues at the sheriff’s office.  Yet by the end of the movie, he’s a pariah.  And in no small part due to his actions, Eddington seems like a different planet from the quiet small town seen at the beginning of the film, a landscape filled with violence, betrayal, vindictiveness, and outrage.  Blood is spilled.  And at some point, when things start to unravel, you could almost see Joaquin Phoenix’s sheriff begin to ask himself how everything went so wrong.  Almost, before he veers from any opportunity from self-reflection, choosing to head down a much darker road.

They’re just having a good old-fashioned hash out! Everything is going to be just fine! (A24)

One thing I appreciate about Eddington is that Ari Aster chooses to tackle some controversial topics that very much influence our lives today.  I feel like most filmmakers would wait about ten years before tackling the social climate of the pandemic.  Most filmmakers probably wouldn’t want to delve into the subject of polarization with a ten-foot pole.  Yet Ari Aster has never shied away from the controversial (again, consider his previous films, including Johnsons) and I think that in this age, we need movies and filmmakers that are willing to look at the forces that shape our lives, no matter how incendiary, and investigate and interrogate them. 

I felt a certain kind of catharsis while watching Eddington.  The characters that represent different ideological viewpoints in this socially fractured environment were imbued with soul and nuance by the actors so that they felt human to me.  Some of the extremism you only hear and read about on the news was exposed to reveal an underlying torpor of emotions as expressed by the characters and actors so that you as an audience member could follow just how someone could end up believing certain things that seem so divorced from reality.  Their personal journeys became much more relatable.  Even seeing the characters with masks on in a grocery store also felt cathartic.  Covid-19 was an incredibly isolating time, and seeing characters with masks on during the early days of Covid brought home the sense that I didn’t go through it alone – other people were going through and feeling the same things.  And of course you know this in the back of your mind, but when you see this onscreen, you feel this.  And that resonates more deeply.