196 words about Eddington

Ari Aster has now released a great movie, a good movie, a bad movie, and an okay movie, in that order; the trendline isn’t good, but I remain a believer. Beau Is Afraid desperately needed a collaborator to tell him “no,” whereas Eddington seems unwilling to go as gonzo and unpleasant as a descent into the unraveling mind of a right-wing sheriff probably deserved. Pedro Pascal and Emma Stone are woefully underutilized — aside from that one great shot of Stone standing, haunted, in the driveway; she may be the best physical actor working — and Phoenix is probably a bad fit for Aster in general, exacerbating the director’s brainy unlikeability rather than countering it, as a better director/actor pairing might (see: Pascal or Stone!!!). Still, I’m glad Eddington exists. There is something almost relieving about a major director, frankly, rubbing our faces in the awfulness of the year 2020. This is no Asteroid City; you don’t chew on the ideas here so much as reflexively spit them out when it’s over. Seems right, though. Aster debuted with a movie that was formally perfect; he is now defined by a grim willingness. There are worse things.