Eddington

If Ari Aster could figure out how to end a movie, his films would all rise to the pinnacle of challenging American cinema.

But damn.....he never knows when to quit and EDDINGTON suffers for it. The first two hours of Aster's new, modern western is an enthralling, biting satire of our current divided country. With equal measures of dark humor, razor sharp observations and harsh takes on both sides of the political spectrum, it is built to shock and offend.

Aster drops us into the middle of 2020 and the dusty, dying New Mexico town of Eddington. It's one of those "drive through on the way to a real town" burgs that I've driven through a hundred times and wondered how the hell people survive there.

Joaquin Phoenix stars as the town's sheriff, Joe Cross. He's a small town cowboy who thinks the pandemic is overblown. Constantly puffing on an inhaler, the mask doesn't help his breathing and he refuses to wear one.

Meanwhile, Mayor Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal) is the wealthiest businessman in town and is running for re-election on a campaign based on bringing a mega corporation and a massive new plant to the town, alongside enforcing every Coronavirus regulation to the full extent of the law. (Except when he's not around voters, than the rules seem to apply less and less...)

Decades of history and rumors swirl along with the dust devils.

Joe's fragile, child like wife Louise (Emma Stone) has a past with Mayor Garcia. She seems ready to break, which isn't helped by her Mother, Dawn (Deidre O'Connell) who believes every online conspiracy. The Titanic was intentionally sunk, the Towers were taken down and don't even get her started on the pandemic.

We all lived through the pandemic and watched the members of our core friends and family react in wildly different, polar opposite ways. The citizens of Eddington are Aster's embodiment of the nation, battling over the six foot rule and which way to walk in a supermarket.

After Joe sees one too many neighbors battling neighbors, he decides to run for Mayor against Garcia on a campaign that he makes up as he goes along.

His brainstorming sessions with his small force are hilarious.

Cross's deputies cover the spectrum as well. Michael (Micheal Ward) is a young African-American Bitcoin fan who's introspective, observant and proud to be in his new role.

Guy (Luke Grimes) is a good old boy in over his head, bringing plenty of comic relief in his man-child reactions to the spiraling news.

Aster is brilliant at creating an ever expanding world of characters that are each written as distinct people. I was reminded of Robert Altman watching the film, as Aster expands his circle of characters in a never ending spiral that felt distinctly like Altman's "Nashville" here, a story with a similar arc.

Just as Garcia plans a big campaign event at his hilltop home and Joe prepares for a campaign town hall at the local Mexican food restaurant, the events of George Floyd in Minneapolis hit the news. As that story grows, the teens of Eddington, bored beyond belief and looking for a reason to congregate, immediately embrace all the Tik Tok social experts and begin a chapter of Black Lives Matter.

Two of those teens will have major impact on the story.

The Mayor's son, Eric (a terrific Matt Gomez Hidaka) seizes on a chance to rebel against his recently divorced Dad. The rallies might be a great way to meet local girl Sarah (Ameile Hoeferle) too. She has never met a social cause that hasn't wounded her deeply. Listening to her spout endless virtue signaling is equal parts hilarious and tragic.

Brian (Cameron Mann) also has eyes for Sarah. He first approaches her at an unlawful gathering of more than 5 (remember those? LOL) by googling Angela Davis and pretending to know all about her when he spots Sarah reading a Davis book.

The deadly infection poisoning Eddington isn't the Coronavirus.

It's the internet.

Aster has created one of the most satirically sharp commentaries on social media I've ever seen. It's like Paddy Chayefsky's "The Hospital" and "Network" writing as he dove into healthcare and broadcast news. Tall praise.

The teens of the town, Louise, Dawn, even Sheriff Joe, spend more time gawking at their screens than they do each other.

Joe's off the cuff campaign ads he posts are hilariously bad.

About halfway into the film, social media guru and whacked-out self help "celebrity"Vernon arrives to Eddington and spreads his visions/flashbacks from therapy of his past in a tortured childhood out of a dystopian novel. He's a magnet for Louise's fractured soul and many others like her.

The dinner scene in which Austin Butler as Vernon sits down uninvited and shares his philosophy is an acting showcase for Phoenix and Butler as two men whose world views uncomfortably collide.

And then, Aster turns up the heat to an explosive, white hot fireball that blows your limbs off.

Impulsive posts go viral, death arrives and the second hour of the film becomes a post-modern, incredibly violent fever dream. Phoenix soars in this hour. There is no better actor to play the depth of Joe Cross's vision of himself and his role in this town, than Phoenix.

White hats don't stay white long. Shocks abound.

Aster also drops in huge laughs at unexpected times, including a father's response to his white son's long speech about white privilege at their dinner table that brought down the house at the showing I attended.

The film morphs into an action thriller that feels more like Cross's fantasy than reality.

Aster pulls no punches on either side. He knows that each of us are more firmly entrenched on one side of the post 2020 pandemic than the other. He forces you to evaluate your stance and then bathes you in an epic battle that could be a Rambo sequel.

And it could have ended perfectly, with the end of Joe Cross's showdown on a nighttime crossroads in this small town.

But Aster fans (and I'm firmly, if frustratingly in that camp) know that Aster never ends a film when he should. His debut film, "Hereditary" is one of my favorite films of the past 20 years, until the final five minutes. The ending of "Midsommar", no, just no. And the ending of "Beau Is Afraid"...WTF, that thing went on 45 minute past its due date.

Once again, Aster lets another 20 minutes play out that seems wholly unnecessary.

Don't get me wrong. The first two hours of the film are some of the most enthralling, challenging and fascinating moments of any Aster work.

It's like having one of the best meals of your life and then getting served a cold bowl of old oatmeal for dessert. The rest of the meal was great, but you're left disappointed.

Again.

Far better than "Beau Is Afraid", perhaps because it's more palatable to see Aster viewing our neurosis as a country versus through one individual, EDDINGTON is built to push your buttons and make you evaluate our current state. On that mission, it's a rousing success. It earns a very solid B+, his western rising to my second favorite Aster film, after his brilliant take on horror, 'Hereditary".