Eddington (2025)
Directed by Ari Aster
In May of 2020, a standoff between a small-town sheriff and mayor sparks a powder keg as neighbor is pitted against neighbor in Eddington, New Mexico.
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45 films that influenced Eddington
What critics say influenced Eddington
…akin to cynical neo-Westerns like the Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men…
I could not help but compare it to the work of the Coens, especially No Country for Old Men (2007) and Burn After Reading (2008). Like the former, Eddington is a stark look at the contemporary American Southwest…
It has the window dressing of rich Coen Brothers thrillers like Blood Simple and No Country for Old Men.
…the film shifts from somber to suspenseful, echoing the cat-and-mouse tension of No Country for Old Men.
…which fittingly recall the best bits from Roger Deakins’ lensing of No Country for Old Men (2007).
…something akin to a violent cat-and-mouse chase, à la the Coen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men (2007)…
…the kind of baffling twist that veers dangerously close to South Park-level satire.
Joaquin Phoenix does a terrific job of channeling Randy Marsh from South Park.
The film exists somewhere between Repo Man, No Country for Old Men, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and South Park.
Nor does he make a blanket statement on these issues to make way for the plot (see Civil War).
Like Alex Garland’s “Civil War” last year, “Eddington” refuses to draw clear lines in the sand…
Unlike Alex Garland did last year with his divisive Civil War…
Part of the pacing problem may be the extended finale of mayhem that mixes elements of the Roadrunner cartoons and Russ Myers’ bloody excess, with a touch of Coen Brothers chaos of RAISING ARIZONA.
His performance as Vernon is understated, yet it feels like a character that could potentially appear in a sequel to Raising Arizona.
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At its best, this broad canvas adds up to something like Robert Altman’s Nashville, another cinematic consideration of America at a critical juncture.
It’s Nashville, only looking at the whole of America through politics and social media instead of politics and music. That said, at least Nashville offered some escape through song.
I could not help but compare it to the work of the Coens, especially No Country for Old Men (2007) and Burn After Reading (2008). Like the former, Eddington is a stark look at the contemporary American Southwest, and it shares with the latter a cadre of disaffected rubes improvising schemes as they go along.
…strange little amalgam of movies like No Country for Old Men, A Serious Man, and Burn After Reading…
It began with a bang with his exceptional 2018 supernatural/psychological horror gem “Hereditary”.
If HEREDITARY was about the horror of inheritance and MIDSOMMAR about the horror of grief and cult dynamics, EDDINGTON is about the horror of us.
Hereditary and Midsommar were brutal, unflinching portraits of grief and madness.
Aster previously helmed the horror films Hereditary, Midsommar, and Beau is Afraid.
Eddington was written and directed by Ari Aster (Hereditary, Beau is Afraid)…
He started in 2018 with the intriguing "Hereditary," which had a few issues with its third act, but had a good sense of mood & atmosphere throughout.
He followed it up with 2019’s “Midsommar” – a movie with a first half that is every bit as brilliant as his debut film and an unfortunate second half that goes completely off the rails.
To my surprise, Eddington shifts away from the surrealist, maximalist filmmaking approach used in Aster’s last film, and instead he aims to create a Western with modern-day sensibilities, and although its visual approach lacks that same chromatic allure that resided in both Midsommar and Beau Is Afraid…
If HEREDITARY was about the horror of inheritance and MIDSOMMAR about the horror of grief and cult dynamics, EDDINGTON is about the horror of us.
Hereditary and Midsommar were brutal, unflinching portraits of grief and madness.
Aster previously helmed the horror films Hereditary, Midsommar, and Beau is Afraid.
Unfortunately his next two efforts, "Midsommar" and "Beau is Afraid," were rather bland projects that were heavily over-extended and showed that Aster didn't have a great understanding of pacing.
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What ought to be experiential and visceral becomes distantly observed, since the concerns of Phoenix’s sheriff tend to lie far away from the plot’s strange, Under the Silver Lake-esque unveilings.
…the kind of baffling twist that veers dangerously close to South Park-level satire. (Or, at minimum, an Under the Silver Lake-style big swing.)
…others, like 2020’s utterly ridiculous “Songbird,” squandered the opportunity and completely misread the room…
If you were nostalgic for the days of Songbird, then this is your must-see movie of the summer.