Cannes 2025 – Eddington ★★★

Released: 22nd August 2025

Director: Ari Aster

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, Pedro Pascal, Austin Butler, Deirdre O’Connell

Genre-master Ari Aster wanted to start his directing career with a contemporary Western. But funding didn’t come through for over five years – so instead, he made “Hereditary“, which was ultimately the right choice. The horror film became a cult hit, paving Aster’s way to bigger productions like “Midsommar“ and “Beau Is Afraid“. Now, seven years after his debut, the once elusive Western dream is a reality – albeit under completely different circumstances: with “Eddington“, Aster shifts his originally written script into the middle of the Covid pandemic, creating a darkly grotesque satire about the year 2020.

The film is set in the fictional small town of Eddington in the U.S. state of New Mexico, adjacent to the Navajo territory. Sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix) has long been fed up: with the pandemic, lockdown and social distancing, a conspiracy-theory-preaching mother-in-law (Deirdre O’Connell), and a depressed wife Louise (Emma Stone). Especially wearing a mask is hard for Joe due to his asthma – which doesn’t stop his rival, Mayor Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal), from attacking the sheriff in his re-election campaign. Out of anger and defiance, Joe announces his candidacy – sparking an explosive election campaign that satirically and grotesquely takes aim at the real madness of the Corona era.

Ari Aster makes no secret in Eddington that the country collectively lost its mind in 2020. His film targets everything: pandemic measures, conspiracy theories, populist politics, the Black Lives Matter protests, and last but not least the media-shaped filter bubble many people live in. No one is spared: “Eddington“ is a biting satire that sears every player – from the corrupt mayor to the radicalized youth. In the first third, Aster paints a precise portrait of the Corona microcosm in the small town: radio stations spreading numerology, absurd protests, a self-proclaimed Jesus follower (Austin Butler), and a campaign with ridiculous slogans.

You can tell the director did intensive research and observation: the disturbingly close-to-reality quality makes the satire so sharp and spot-on. Genre-wise, Eddington is a wild hybrid of western, psychological warfare, black comedy, and political farce. The plot escalates toward a highly dramatic showdown – a Rambo-like final battle that collides the Western classic “The Wild Bunch“ with modern technology and digital surveillance. Aster stages this with a combination of stoic calm and bursts of manic energy, supported by camerawork whose dynamism recalls the Coen brothers.

At the center is Joaquin Phoenix as Sheriff Joe Cross, oscillating between sympathy and disgust. Phoenix delivers a torn man whose powerlessness and frustration hide behind a façade of aggression and posturing. Pedro Pascal plays Mayor Ted Garcia as an ambitious modernizer, though his character lacks depth despite the star billing. Emma Stone as Joe’s wife Louise remains pale and emotionally distant, as does Austin Butler as the mysterious cult leader.

With a runtime of over two and a half hours, “Eddington“ is cumbersome and overloaded. The first hour drags with absurd dialogues and incoherent scenes: Austin Butler’s character feels especially out of place. The supporting characters are underdeveloped, making the film sometimes feel like a star vehicle for Phoenix alone. But in the second half, “Eddington“ gains noticeable momentum and tension before unleashing the full force of Aster’s harshness in the final showdown: a breathless, cinematically virtuosic fight that is simultaneously a Western epic and apocalyptic psychodrama. Here Aster’s great strengths shine: his ability to make chaos and madness both emotionally and visually tangible.

“Eddington“ is not an easy film. It provokes, confuses, unsettles and challenges the audience to confront the madness of a society plunged into crisis by pandemic, protests, and political division. Ari Aster’s genre mix of western, farce, and psychological thriller is bold and ambitious, but also overambitious: the generous runtime and too many loose ends cause the film to occasionally stumble. Yet precisely the individual parts and the cinematic inventiveness make “Eddington“ a fascinating, darkly comic reflection of the present. A film that will polarize, but must never be ignored.