Not a white hat in sight in Ari Aster's scorched earth satire Eddington

Eddington created a stir when it was launched at the Cannes Film Festival.

Right now, it's New York-based writer/director Ari Aster is a hot name to drop, particularly at film festivals.

Aster's speciality is aggressively blending horror and black comedy in films like Hereditary, Midsommar and the recent Beau is Afraid. Eddington is a different sort of horror - it’s what happened when COVID-19 struck around the world.

The film may be set in rural America – Eddington, New Mexico – but the effects of lockdowns, paranoia and social media craziness were seen everywhere, including here.

You can’t fault Aster for lack of ambition. In two and a half hours, he sets out to squeeze in as many aspects of the Year of Covid as he possibly can.

It opens on Sheriff Joe Cross – Joaquin Phoenix, rather more laid-back than usual. This feels more like a Jeff Bridges part, you’d think.

Don’t worry, Aster knew what he was doing when he cast old mate Phoenix. You can take the actor out of The Joker, but you’ll never take the Joker out of Joaquin.

But first, Sheriff Cross finds himself frustrated by the many mandates inflicted on the town of Eddington – all those rules, all those masks. For which he blames the Governor and Mayor Ted Garcia, played by Pedro Pascal.

The seemingly omnipresent Pascal is famous for turning up in hugely popular properties – Game of Thrones, Wonder Woman, The Last of Us – but not making it to the final credits.

In his most famous role, The Mandalorian, his face is mostly hidden. Will he break the Curse of Pascal this time, we wonder?

Joe Cross decides to put his anti-mandate opinions where his mouth is and stand against Ted Garcia for mayor.

But the political contest is just the start. Tempers are flaring up in Eddington at the time they were also hotting up around the country. Remember Black Lives Matter, which happened at the height of it all?

Immediately, the right-on sector of Eddington takes to the streets. Their prime target is the Sheriff’s office, despite the fact that the only Black citizen in the town is actually one of the two deputies.

Sheriff Cross tries to calm things down and fails miserably. Jeff Bridges might have done it. Phoenix has no chance.

Meanwhile, the rather less right-on sector is up in arms too, but rather more effectively. Mayor Garcia is heavily supported by Big Business, which plans to make Eddington the high-tech capital of New Mexico.

The last thing they need is a loose cannon like Joe Cross as mayor.

But there’s more than one loose cannon in town. During the lockdown, people have nothing to do but gaze at their digital devices.

‘Doing Your Own Research’ has become a national obsession, leading to the rise of online dingbats like Vernon Peak, played by Austin Butler.

What started as a simple by-election between rival civil servants spins rapidly out of control.

There’s murder, the fingers of suspicion point in all directions, conspiracy theories spring up, and then are replaced with even more outlandish ones. We’re watching Eddington, and by implication, the country, go crazy by the end.

It’s the sort of satirical territory once ploughed by directors like David Fincher or the Coen Brothers, though even Ethan and Joel at their most cynical would have given us someone to root for.

Aster prefers a sort of scorched-earth approach, letting nobody off the hook. Covid brought the worst out in people, he says. Particularly when all sides considered they were right and everyone else was a tool of Satan.

Eddington is being described as a Western, which is only correct geographically. Calling it a Western implies there’s some sort of moral compass at play, but there’s not a white hat to be seen.

Listen to Simon Morris review the latest films in At The Movies, available here or on Sundays at 1.30pm on RNZ National.