Overview

• The film follows Sheriff Joe Cross, played by Joaquin Phoenix, as he flouts Covid-19 mandates and challenges Mayor Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal) in a small New Mexico town.
• Eddington fuses horror aesthetics, neo-western tropes and dark comedy to examine how social media replace shared reality and fuel communal divisions.
• Critics commend Ari Aster’s Coen Brothers–inspired visual precision but observe that the 2 hour 25 minute runtime occasionally drags.
• Set in May 2020, the story satirically explores pandemic-era paranoia, conspiracy theories and the breakdown of civic bonds.
• After its Cannes debut on May 16, French reviews spotlight the film’s biting ideological critique just ahead of Wednesday’s theatrical premiere.