Review: Welcome To 'Eddington.' Leave Your Calm At The Door.

HOLLYWOOD, CA — Welcome to “Eddington.” A quiet haven no more.

In Ari Aster’s surreal psychological drama, tranquility collapses into paranoia and disorder in a town once gleaming with enviable charm.

The year is 2020, and as COVID sends tremors of panic across the nation, Mayor Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal) preemptively imposes lockdowns and mask mandates, despite no confirmed cases. His executive decree strikes a nerve with Sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix), and the dusty calm begins to unravel.

The town of Eddington becomes a crucible of chaos, fraying by the hour. Louise (Emma Stone), Joe’s increasingly erratic wife, spirals inward, fueled by her mother Dawn’s (Deirdre O’Connell) homemade gospel of conspiracy. The rivalry between Joe and Ted escalates into a mayoral showdown, while the town itself begins to implode.

Can Joe unseat Ted — or will Eddington finally find its way back to the charm it once held close?

Pascal embodies Mayor Ted Garcia with a smoldering emotional restraint — a stillness that simmers rather than stalls. Phoenix delivers a simmering ferocity as Sheriff Joe Cross — clenched jaw, haunted eyes, and an unease that threatens to erupt. And Emma Stone? She stuns as Louise, injecting subtlety and fragility in equal measure. Collectively, they anchor Eddington’s hysteria in performances that feel deeply human, haunted and hypnotic.

As the actors breathe life into the pandemic-fueled paranoia, it's the film’s technical craft—direction, cinematography, and score—that turns that emotional chaos into a visceral, haunting world.

Aster’s direction in “Eddington” is as fearless as ever. As in his previous films, “Hereditary” and “Beau Is Afraid,” he orchestrates chaos with surgical precision, letting tension simmer until it curdles into dread. Darius Khondji’s cinematography captures the town’s eerie descent with restraint, shifting from sun-lit stillness to shadow-soaked paranoia. And the score by Bobby Krlic and Daniel Pemberton pulses beneath every frame with maddening angst. Together, the trio paints a world teetering on the edge of reality.

The supporting cast of “Eddington” adds texture and tension to the town’s unraveling, each performance deepening its surreal descent. Deirdre O’Connell is quietly unnerving as Dawn, the conspiracy evangelist whose paranoia spreads like wildfire behind closed doors. Austin Butler drips enigmatic menace as Vernon Jefferson Peak, a viral cult figure who seduces Louise with cryptic philosophies. Luke Grimes and Micheal Ward, playing Joe’s loyal deputies, ground the chaos, offering glimpses of fear, loyalty, and silent moral conflict.

The emotional core of “Eddington” explores the desperate search for meaning in chaos, seen through the lens of collective hysteria. It’s about yearning for normalcy within a society addicted to outrage.

Midway through, the narrative loses steam, drifting from the beating heart that keeps Eddington alive. But once it finally finds its pulse again, the film lands seamlessly bold and provocative.

And for what it’s worth, the crux of it all still lingers: Can Eddington reclaim its mantle of serenity — peace, quiet, and the calm it once dearly embraced?

Verdict: If you’re drawn to daring performances, provocative themes, and surreal storytelling, “Eddington” offers a fever dream worth diving into. But if you prefer clean narrative arcs and consistent pacing, its chaotic middle stretch and tonal shifts may leave you unmoored.