Matthew Percefull
2020. A year most of us want to forget about completely. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to ignore this consequential year and the ramifications it brought with it. The COVID-19 pandemic locked everything down, the summer was marked by protests, a contentious presidential election occurred in the fall, and every aspect of our lives was being infiltrated by technology. Listing it out doesn’t even begin to describe how overwhelming it all felt at the time. I remember when it was all happening; people were bemoaning the idea of a potential film set in this period. Well, Ari Aster is here to deliver it five years later with Eddington. Judging by the trailer, it’s going to be one wild ride down memory lane.
How much has truly changed since COVID? The world opened back up, but it carried something different in the air. A sense of paranoia. Everyone emerged from their quarantines as an altered version of themselves. It makes sense. We were all forced into our little bubbles. Humans are a social species, though, so we crave social interaction of some form. Naturally, we all flocked to the internet, more specifically, social media. TikTok, Twitter, and Zoom became the new social hubs. These platforms were instrumental in navigating the pandemic for some people, but for others, it led to obsessive, cultlike behavior. The trailer of Eddington explores how the internet seeped into reality. For a moment, it even became reality.
Described as a western, Eddington takes place in the summer of 2020. The film stars Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone, and Austin Butler. The trailer starts off with an intense stare down between Sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix) and Mayor Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal). This argument seemingly sets off a very chaotic chain of events. Every frame is steeped in 2020. From Austin Butler’s conspiracy influencer character, the shootings filmed via iPhone, and the political tension, all bring back stark memories from this time.
Ari Aster is one of the most exciting filmmakers working today. He broke onto the scene as a horror filmmaker but has proven that he can nail any tone. He’s unpredictable, and you never truly know what to expect from a film with his name on it. 2023’s Beau Is Afraid showed that he’s not afraid to get as weird as possible. Eddington is likely to continue this trend. A24 seems content to bankroll it. I’m definitely content to keep watching it.
It’s easy to scoff at Eddington‘s concept. “Too soon” is what many audiences will likely respond with. It makes sense; the depictions of mid-pandemic tension in the trailer are eerily accurate. Joaquin Phoenix’s character is a character that many people knew during the pandemic. He’s scared and turned to hate and conspiracy to make him feel better. I think we desperately need a film like Eddington right now. Culturally, we’ve never moved past the pandemic.
With current events, it seems like we’re facing the results of not reckoning with what the pandemic did to us. The stuff that shocked us then has just become commonplace now. We haven’t been freed of our reliance on the internet. If anything, it’s tightened its grip. The extremist right-wing flavored influencers that were once ostracized are now being consumed by young people in mass. The excessive bad news and awful footage never stopped; we just got used to it. Eddington will force us to see what we became during that time. The scary part will be realizing how little we’ve changed since then.
Written and directed by Ari Aster, and starring Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone, and Austin Butler, Eddington will be in theaters on July 18th, 2025.
