from the series Movie Corner…
4/5 Stars
Drama/Crime/Thriller
A24 and Square Peg
By HOWARD MCQUITTER II
Eddington is a fictional town in New Mexico, but for some reason in my mind it seems like a real place. The movie begins with a homeless man babbling incoherently as he walks into Eddington at sunset. It’s May 2020 and the town is under siege from the pandemic coronavirus (COVID-19) and a barrage of Black Lives Matter (BLM) protesters. In the midst of these unsettling events Sheriff Joe Cross walks into the local food market, the local bar, and other businesses while refusing to wear a mask even when the managers insist that he respect the protocol.
Joe Cross is married to Louise Cross, who is suffering from an unexplained malady. She’s mainly a shut-in who spends much of her time making weird-looking dolls that seldom ever produce revenge. However, it won’t be long before the governor orders lockdowns for the residents that Joe sneers at.
Eddington is no laid-back drama of taking things in stride but bears itself in a bodacious power play between Sheriff Joe Cross and Mayor Ted Garcia, and others in the story. With Joe and Ted the tensions rise even more when Joe (against his wife’s objection) decides to run against the Mayor in an election. Joe even tries to smear Ted by claiming he had an illicit relationship with Louise, but it fails to gain ground. Joe feels like he’s lost control at home as well as in the street. What the audience sees is a man unraveling before their eyes. To add to Joe’s frustration are conspiracy theorists -his mother-in-law Dawn and Vernon – the latter particularly with right-wing ideology. Antifa and Black Lives Matter all seem like “good” conspiracy tales for them.
Director Ari Aster’s Eddington gets messy; perhaps in more ways than one. Joe takes up an AR-15 and proceeds on a murder spree, even sacrificing the young Black deputy Michael in the process. Kill or be killed, hundreds of rounds of bullets sound-off in the night as if he is in Afghanistan. Joe acts like Sylvester Stallone as he blends into the night like a fugitive. I can honestly say that Ari Aster’s Eddington takes another road from his family horror film Hereditary (2018) and colorful folksy horror film Midsommar (2019). I didn’t see Beau Is Afraid, 2023.
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix (Joe Cross), Deirdre O’Connell (Dawn), Emma Stone (Louise Cross), Cameron Mann (Brian), Matt Gomez Hidaka (Guy), Amélie Hoeferle (Sarah), Clifton Collins Jr. (Lodge), William Belleau (Officer Jimenez Butterfly), Austin Butler (Vernon), Landall Goolsby (Will), Elise Falanga (Nicolette), King Orba (Warren), Rachel de la Torre (Paula).
Director: Ari Aster. Screenwriter: Ari Aster. Original Music: The Haxan Cloak and Daniel Pemberton. Cinematographer: Darius Khondji.
Rated: R. Running time: 148 minutes.
Howard McQuitter II is a longtime movie critic. He has been reviewing movies for the alley since 2002.
