an intelligent film, but one that doesn’t apply

It is the moment in which we will see more and more stories at the cinema that portray the politics of this historical period and, in particular, Donald Trump. And so on Eddington (here is the trailer for Eddington), Ari Aster – as a great horror author that he is – makes the specter of the President of the United States of America wander around this fictitious and homonymous city in New Mexico by framing a precise moment and a collective trauma: May 2020, a few months after the outbreak of the pandemic Covid-19.

Ari Aster brought Eddington, his film most anchored in reality (and the fear of this) on the stage of the latest Cannes Film Festival which welcomes its shadow and political contagion. More immediate than the whole Beau is scared and (less or more?) scary than those metaphors about relationships and family relationships that they were Midsummer e Hereditarythe director embraces the modern western. Eddington is the “high noon” in the era of fake news and social activism. Indeed a nightmare: but what was it like reliving it?

Welcome to Eddington

The sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix) and the mayor Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal) clash over the obligation to wear a mask during the pandemic. Their personal and political rivalry turns into a social conflict that divides the city: as tension grows and leads to violence – as in the rest of the country – in Louise (Emma Stone) the sheriff’s wife, a feeling of uneasiness grows.

The ghost of politics that was blossoming in that period haunts the city of Eddington, and like a monster waits for nightfall. Ari Aster he is good at bringing this cultural macrocosm back into the microcosm in New Mexico, but he proceeds to grope to include in this cauldron the Black Lives Mattercults, stolen lands and white supremacism. Little is understood about these themes even if the intentions are quite clear: a not very incisive analysis it is crushed by an easy and unsophisticated satire, which, even if it makes the film accessible, transforms all the characters that compose it into merciless targets. Eddington thus ends up embodying the worst aspects of this “easy” readingwithout having a clear reason why to get angry and be angry.

An underused cast

His characters, initially endearing, become irrational maniacs because of this neo-westernas a parody of the genre’s fiercest gunslinger. The absolute protagonist is Joaquin Phoenixwhich continues the harmony and artistic centrality already found with the director in Beau is scaredhowever to the detriment of the rest of the cast.

Chemistry with Pedro Pascal it’s there, but it’s little exploited except in some rather zany moments (like a sequence of slaps Firework Of Katy Perry), not to mention Emma Stone e Austin Butler – in the role of this enigmatic leader of a sect – who remain a bit on the sidelines with a storyline that is mostly filler and inconclusive, given all the irons in the fire.

The reality is scary

Those already disappointed by his penultimate film will not find horror again Eddington (and not even strong supporting metaphors), but rather the real and external horror that surrounds us, as in the madness of social media especially in those first moments of the pandemic – or in the current events that the film involuntarily continues to recall. In fact, it doesn’t matter if neo-western or neo-noir, Eddington is “neo” in his direct representation of the present closer to us. But it is in framing the darkest moments of this historical moment that everything begins to falter.

Ari Aster’s new film is boldbut collapses under the weight of its own grandeur. Hints of misinformation, isolation, morale and the politics of lockdown drag him down: he doesn’t articulate a position and paints a portrait of the situation seen from afar. He is evasive in addressing his themes despite not being afraid to exploit them (even at the risk of slipping up).

Nice, but…

It’s a divisive filmbut perhaps the director’s greatest admirers wanted something else. Perhaps a common front made up of ambitions and solid ideas, without easy and exasperated choices.

And what exasperates the most Eddington is that the elements for success are all there, but the more the minutes pass, the more distant that goal seems. Somewhere, buried in this film, there is another more incisive one which occasionally peeks out, but remains crushed by everything else.