‘Eddington’, with Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal, is a ‘western with cell phones instead of guns’

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If anyone thought that the reviews would make him return to the genre cinema he best dominates, Aster decided to double the bet. “Eddington” is an ambitious attempt to x-ray the polarized United States at the beginning of the Covid pandemic, in what the director defined as a kind of “Western with cell phones instead of guns”.

Joe (Joaquin Phoenix) is the sheriff of the small community of Eddington, New Mexico. He disdains the lockdown by refusing to wear a mask, while at home his wife and mother-in-law feed on fake news 24 hours a day.

Joe’s rival is Ted (Pedro Pascal), mayor who wants to be re-elected so that a company can build a gigantic data center there, affecting the neighboring indigenous village. At the same time, local young people are involved in protests over the death of George Floyd.

From the synopsis you can see how Aster shoots everywhere, and his political satire ends up proving to be less intelligent than it seemed. Although the thriller pace holds up, with Phoenix well in the role of Phoenix, the film gets lost in the delirious nihilism of the final half hour. There is a certain kinship with the recent “One Battle After Another”, by Paul Thomas Anderson, which is better resolved, whether in the aesthetic field or in the field of ideas.

Price: Little doll looks.