Cannes Diary 04: Ari Aster's "Eddington" is uncomfortably contemporary
Monday, May 19, 2025 at 9:00AM 
by Elisa Giudici
In Eddington, Ari Aster brings his signature excesses and flaws, yet, as always, these are interwoven with genuine strokes of genius, his remarkable visual talent, and a flair for the audacious. Eddington is set to be divisive, much like his previous film Beau is Afraid, though it's arguably more focused and sharp, albeit still far from perfect.
The very fabric of Eddington makes it incendiary, divisive, and ultimately, a tough nut to crack. Set in the fictional New Mexico town of its title, it's an uneven but admirable attempt to take a genre deeply rooted in the past -- the Watern -- and use its tropes and language to narrate our present. Naturally then we get the classic standoff as well as reaking shop sign swinging in a desert landscape. The shop is actually a gun store, from which the protagonist will emerge armed with both an automatic rifle and a smartphone. Because today, vigilantes and criminals alike carry a lens ready to film themselves or to be pointed in others' faces, like a weapon...