The cinematic response to the COVID pandemic has been largely underwhelming, with films offering shallow and obvious references to the experience. Ari Aster's film Eddington stands out by exaggerating and critiquing the collective amnesia about 2020. Set in a fictional New Mexico town, it follows Sheriff Joe Cross's ineffectual mayoral campaign against a progressive opponent. His wife Louise's descent into absurd art-making and eventual involvement with a charismatic, conspiracy-driven preacher highlights personal and societal disintegration. Eddington aims to explore deeper themes rather than merely reflect on surface-level pandemic experiences.
Ari Aster's new film Eddington positions itself as both an exaggeration and a riposte of the collective skittishness and amnesia about 2020. It keeps its focus on a sliver of the state in which Aster grew up, showing the foolish exploits of Sheriff Joe Cross running for mayor.
Set in the titular fictional small New Mexico town, Eddington follows Sheriff Joe Cross, a cowboy hat-wearing conservative, as he campaigns against the progressive incumbent, Ted Garcia.
Cross's wife, Louise, makes bizarre art at home while her mother descends into conspiratorial thinking. Eventually, Louise is drawn into the cult of an online preacher, Vernon Jefferson Peak, who exploits right-wing fears.
The cinematic output regarding the COVID pandemic has been largely insignificant, relying on shallow references to masks, social distancing, and toilet paper hoarding, rather than delving into the complexities of that period.
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