Plot Summary – During the COVID-19 pandemic, a standoff between a small-town sheriff and mayor sparks a powder keg as neighbour is pitted against neighbour in Eddington, N.M.

★★★★  

Watched 20 Jul 2025

Ari Aster is the master of uncomfortable cinema. From the eerie darkness of Hereditary and Midsommar to the anxiety-filled fever dream that was Beau is Afraid , he always manages to keep you at arm’s length while investigating some aspect of human nature that is deeply disturbing. For two hours of this movie, he does that masterfully. An incredible reflection on COVID, social justice, and our double standards as humans – I found myself deep in thought throughout the movie about the questions it asked about people and what it means to be good.

It is let down, however, by a third act that I can only describe as directionless and way too random and chaotic for a movie that is so meticulous in its construction. I found myself cringing and letting out groans as it escalated more and more in its unrealistic and self-aggrandizing conclusion. I found the epilogue section to be pretty entertaining, but they could’ve gotten there with a little more subtlety and nuance.

Darius Khondji shoots this beautifully, the desolate town of Eddington is so well captured and the lockdown era eerieness of large spaces is so accurately depicted. Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal are excellent as always. Deirdre O’Connell, Michael Ward, and Austin Butler were also really fun in their roles. I found Emma Stone going back to her The Curse bag for this role to be an interesting and ultimately, very fun choice. The trio of Amélie Hoeferle, Matt Gomez and Cameron Mann were the revelations of the film for me – I think its some of the best writing of Gen-Z characters and performative activism I have seen in a long time and they do a lot with the material to make it interesting.

Ultimately, this film has so much to say. It is one of the densest and most discussion-worthy films I’ve seen this year. I can understand why it’s so divisive cause the line between satire and praise can be so thin and so well-hidden at times. It covers a lot of ground – COVID, personal freedom, corruption in politics, race relations, social media, performative activism, cults of personality, QAnon conspiracy culture – and for the most part (until the third act), handles all of it with grace – giving each topic its own room to breathe and fester in your head. I would recommend you watch this in theaters, but you might hate it. Even if you do, it is worth watching cause you will get some incredible discussions out of it.