“Eddington” does a good job of reminding us what the country was like in 2020.
Social distancing was the order of the day, masks were controversial, and no one quite knew where anyone stood on the source of the pandemic.
Then, before the story even begins, we see folks separating from one another; politicians using the situation to push their agendas. And, we see people about to unhinge when other issues become too much to bear.
Just when you think it’s headed somewhere, Ari Aster’s film starts to devolve and we’re not quite sure what it’s trying to say. Humor — if there is any — doesn’t land the way it should, and characters become much more than they ever were.
Joaquin Phoenix plays the sheriff in "Eddington," a look at the pandemic's effect on a small town in the United States.
What works is the squabble between the sheriff and the mayor of Eddington, New Mexico. Sufficiently upset with the mayor’s ways, Sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix) decides to challenge incumbent Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal) in the next election.
You can see his tipping point — in addition to a populace that’s not really compliant, he has a goofy wife (Emma Stone) who makes dolls she sells on the internet and a live-in mother-in-law (Deirdre O’Connell) who has conspiracy theories about everything.
Garcia, meanwhile, lives in a posh house, has a potential business that could change the face of Eddington and a son who could be pushing his own message.
Pedro Pascal, left, plays the mayor of "Eddington," a town that experiences turmoil in 2020.
By the time a Zoom meeting takes place, we realize Aster is pointing out the absurdity of following protocol when the town of 2,435 hasn’t even been touched by COVID-19. But then it morphs into hysteria over a number of issues, not the least of which is Black Lives Matter. He dabbles in tribal politics, too, and segues into water pollution before turning “Eddington” into an old-school western with one hunting another. Several times, the film becomes one of those shootouts in the streets of a once-quiet town. And then? It’s hard to say what it wants to impart.
The battle between mayor and sheriff becomes an afterthought once lawlessness takes over. Aster offers a coda of sorts, but it raises so many more issues it’s difficult to say what we’re supposed to learn.
Phoenix and Pascal are fine as the rivals; Stone is underused, and O’Connell is a real find as the woman who towers in the end.
A second viewing could produce more clarity. But coming in cold, “Eddington” isn’t the kind of place you’d want to visit, much less live.
It’s no place like home.
