More than half a decade on from the initial outbreak of COVID-19 and subsequent years of lockdowns and global panic, it seems like we have made a conscious collective effort to forget—or at the very least, move past—the pandemic. It was easy to see the irony, stepping into a sold out showing of Eddington (dir. Ari Aster) as part of Sydney Film Festival’s 2025 run and packing in shoulder-to-shoulder in the Ritz Cinemas, that we were all about to watch a film that was ostensibly about the distressing effects of the pandemic.
Source: IMDb
Aster, who is most well-known for his beloved horror films like Hereditary and Midsommar, has embarked on a mission to remind us of that very bleak pandemic reality, taking us back to the near past of May 2020. Taking place in the titular small town of Eddington, New Mexico, Aster sets out to satirise the height of political and social unrest brewing at the time whilst tapping into those horror elements of his previous directorial exploits. What results is a hilarious, yet confusing, attempt to thrust audiences back into the grips of the global outbreak, and question what it has actually done to us.
We follow the town’s sheriff, Joe Cross, played by the extraordinary Joaquin Phoenix, as the population navigates stricter mask regulations, social distancing and turning to an online world when the outside one seems to no longer be an option. The COVID backdrop is an overbearing presence at first, made evident through the camera’s lingering gaze on the empty streets of Eddington and the constant framing, and discussion of, the increasing physical separation that town residents are having to bear with. An abundance of shots also focus on the screen of an iPhone and the various TikToks, Facebook posts, and news articles our characters are engaging with. While this choice did feel a little jarring at first, the oppressive presence of social media does well to capture the anxieties of the time and parroting the conspiracy and distrust that set its roots during the pandemic, and has only grown as a problem since. There is a particularly striking moment where Phoenix gives an earnest performance that is captured entirely through the selfie-cam screen of his phone, the harsh glare and reflection of his hands reminding us that we, too, are processing this chaos secondhand.
Source: Vogue
So what exactly makes this film confusing?
Aside from an abrupt shift in plot direction and a hasty spiralling into a hectic murder cover-up story, the film dissects the political movements and concerns of the time in a puzzling way. Heavily featuring Eddington’s Black Lives Matter movement, the film succeeds in exploring the performative nature of some of these activists and, to its credit, explicitly mentions the horrific murder of George Floyd as a catalyst for these nation-wide protests. And yet, this plot point in particular is so heavily satirised to the point where characters that are part of this movement are being played solely for laughs. The rise of online conspiracy is another core aspect of the film that seems to see-saw between being the object of pointed satirical critique and quick audience laughs. In short, many of the more ‘controversial’ topics explored in Eddington seem to be regurgitated for the sake of humour with very little space for any new commentary or ideas, with the dramatic climax solidifying the outlandish turn that film follows to its very end.
I want to be clear: the film is funny. Ridiculously so. The theatre was cracking up almost incessantly throughout the film’s 145 minute run time and the comedy was both overt and subtle in the right places. The dynamic between Phoenix and co-star, Pedro Pascal, on screen is thrilling to watch and the rest of the cast are just as phenomenal in their comedic delivery, with brief but standout performances from William Belleau, who plays a police officer from a district over, and Austin Butler, who embodies the narcissism of an online conspiracy leader perfectly.
Eddington, for all its confusion and wacky antics, is an impressive cinematic experience and a genuinely enjoyable watch overall. While it did have its perplexing moments, I hope it will exist as just one of the first stepping stones in continued examinations of the haunting consequences and anxieties of the pandemic in mainstream art, not its defining piece.
Eddington was screened at the Sydney Film Festival in the month of June, 2025. Keep up with the activities and future screenings at the SFF at www.sff.org.au.