Eddington Review
‘Eddington’ Sets a Small Town On Fire But Fails To Generate Real Sparks. Joaquin Phoenix stars in director Ari Aster’s ‘Eddington,’ a combination of satire, thriller, and Western that struggles to find its tone and meaning. The fourth feature from writer-director Ari Aster – who previously tackled horror in ‘Hereditary’ and ‘Midsommar,’ and psychological surrealism in ‘Beau is Afraid’ – finds the filmmaker pivoting again, this time to a hybrid of political satire, social commentary, and Western tropes.
As one might imagine from reading that ambitious trio of themes, Aster takes a big swing with ‘Eddington’ – in which he stands up a small New Mexico town for an America reeling from COVID and Trumpism – but doesn’t quite connect. In his attempt to say as much as he can about the current state of the nation, Aster doesn’t manage to really say anything except that the situation is kind of hopeless.
Despite its excellent visual package and a sturdy set of performances, ‘Eddington’ never quite finds its groove.
