Critic of a western in the middle of chaos

Sheriff, you’re afraid

The Teaser poster of Eddington resumed the diorama Untitled (Buffalos) by David Wojnarowicz. In addition, According to the Art Institute of Chicago website. Meanwhile, it “Illustrates a traditional Native American hunting method consisting in bringing bison from the plains to cliffs, forcing them to dive towards death”, but also a “Acerbic analogy and criticism” since “The image embodies the tragedy of the pandemic [du Sida à l’époque, ndlr] and draws up an indictment against a nation in conflict with itself ”.

Impossible not to understand the choice of such a visual having seen the end result. Moreover, All intentions of Eddington – where the confrontation of the sheriff (Joaquin Phoenix). Similarly, the mayor (Pedro Pascal) of Eddington sets fire to the powders in the Covid pandemic – were finally before our eyes, Ari aster thinking with malicious and in the smallest detail critic western middle chaos each of his works.

This was already the case in its previous three films where the hidden clues (whether these are some sectarian symbols in Hereditythe announcing wall tapestry of Midsummer or multiple elements in Beau is Afraid) swarm throughout the stories. However, They unconsciously prepares spectators for horror. Furthermore, violence (both physical and psychological) who were waiting for the characters and, more generally, their entourage.

The family has always been at the heart of Ari Aster’s feature films (and even their best short films like. Nevertheless, pervert Munchausen and unhealthy The Strange Thing About the Johnsons). For example, It must be said that. However, as critic western middle chaos he told in an interview with Three colors In 2023, Ari Aster saw the family “Like this kind of black hole from which we cannot escape and which consumes us”. Nevertheless, Hence its protagonists crushed by their past and the weight of their inheritances. Nevertheless, But This tryptic on the transmission now fenced (or almost), Ari Aster saw larger with Eddington.

Critic western middle chaos

american real nightmare

Of course, the American does not let go of his marottes with Eddington Between the “Mommy from” (even “mother-in-law from” here), the toxic family ties, the question of mourning, the fear of disappointing, the sectarian drifts or His morbid fascination for the mutilated heads critic western middle chaos (and body). Nevertheless, Except that he chooses to transpose his obsessions. no longer through a main character and his entourage, but a whole community: the city of Eddington to the New Mexico.

The filmmaker continues to explore contemporary horror by moving the political and social scale of his reflection. In Eddingtonthere is no longer simply a question of an intimate. interior observation of a character and his loved ones. On the contrary. even if the Sheriff Joe Cross is the center of the film and its evolution serves as a red thread for the plot, its status rather allows Ari ASTER Ausculting American society through all of its components.

The film thus starts slowly with A fun, even hilarious satire of the management of the pandemic in this small town. The sheriff (Joaquin Phoenix Imperial from start to finish) does not respect the law (he does not want to wear a mask. “he does not need it” and in addition it is asthmatic). Except that his conflicts with the mayor (Pedro Pascal decidedly of all projects. styles), the police of the neighboring county or the inhabitants will ring the start of chaos.

In this first part. indisputably, Eddington operates the best examination of the Covid pandemic seen in the cinema, but is nonetheless slightly sluggish. It is often repetitive in the subject. sometimes even a little boring, not very subtle and at that time, Ari Aster seems, for the first time in his career, to rush into a wall. Fortunately. it was without counting his ability to straighten the bar, critic western middle chaos take short and ignite an impertinent satire in real merciless burning on the state of America (and the world in general).

Critic western middle chaos

WORLD BE AFRAID

Difficult to describe in just a few lines the density of Eddington and his psychoanalysis. Eddington becomes the face of all of America. during the period of COVID-19 (and post-Pandemic) And therefore evokes pell-mell, conspiracy, Trumpism, racism, patriarchy, sexual assault, the impact of social networks (and tech) on disinformation, indoctrination (in all its forms), the catastrophic state of the political offer (all sides combined) and, ultimately, the tragic absurdity of our world.

It is undoubtedly a little too much and critic western middle chaos some characters graze severely (Emma Stone and Austin Butler in particular). But in truth, on 2:30, it is essential for the crescendo climb of collective hysteria. Because if. at first, the filmmaker recounts this madness through an ultra-provocative farce, very politically incorrect, with fierce and grotesque black humor, His demonstration takes on a much darker and violent turn as the gradual stagnation of the characters Faced with a situation that has become uncontrollable.

Laughter thus gives way to anxiety through a mortal thriller (reminiscent Pottsville, 1280 habitants by Jim Thompson) then to terror in A hallucinating and unpredictable pass. The way to immerse ourselves in a game of massacre with the critic western middle chaos air of post-ultra-bourrin post-apo during the grand finale. all in a contemporary western atmosphere where the concept of (unique) truth is only a distant mirage.

It is all the more impressive that the staging of Ari Aster is always inspired-going from sequence plans accentuating the discomforts to a camera carried as closer to the increasing aggressiveness of the characters-and that Darius Khondji does a crazy job in the photo (between the darkness of the dark nights. the cold whiteness of the screens and the dazzling light of New-mexic). Technically. scripted, The gesture is daring, intense, jubilant, creepyslightly ambiguous and like a back of a medal, he will necessarily divide (as much or more than Beau is Afraid).

critic western middle chaos

However, it’s also All the strength of Ari Aster than reshaping the horror a little more to the cinema and metamorphosing himself. So far. his horrifying terrain gripped our anxieties (intimate and universal), but always played with surrealism or the fantastic as if to slightly relativize hell taking place before our eyes. In Eddingtonhe decides to separate completely from the phantasmagoria to fully anchor in our reality.

And then, even if the events sometimes seem eccentric, insane or aberrant, they become a credible reflection of our time. There is no longer any question here of a simple bad dream that we can wake up. but of a real open -air nightmarewith which we consciously play (in) that we observe without flinching or supplies voluntarily. If that’s not horror …