Eddington

I didn’t like the movie’s perpetuation of the most extreme beliefs, which also led to extremely unlikeable characters and more focus on woke propaganda than a nuanced message

9.4 - I think there is actually more than two response camps (love it or hate it) to this.

One is like/love it because Ari Aster makes good but distressing movies. One is like/love it because of its depth & commentary on current social dynamics & politics & how covid has rewired us on both micro & macro scales. One is hate it cause they don’t like Aster & his stories & don’t want to relive Covid. And the last is the “just don’t get it” group.

I think I’m in the second set.

This is Aster’s signature deeply layered, immensely detailed, show not tell, multiple interpretations from multiple angles writing through & through - & it starts from minute one with the introduction of solidgoldmagikarp. (And ends in the same place with the implication that they affected the events at the end of the film to achieve their goals and no person’s actions throughout the film mattered one bit to that ultimate resolution.

If you don’t know what a solidgoldmagikarp is, read about it because it’s a real concept, and it ties the entire theme of the movie together. Quick idea is it’s a glitch or anomaly that changes learning models & can cause erratic behavior. Covid was our current society’s sgmk. It broke down our shared experiences & realities.

Throughout this entire movie it showcases multiple contradictory, conflicting & confused views & responses to the same events, and almost all are at least in part valid views from their angle. Mask mandates, new businesses, protests & riots, BLM, social media, grifter cults, conspiracy theories, self identity, political affiliation, interpersonal power dynamics - it’s all scathingly satirized. There is something to confirm, & likely offend, almost everyone in here. (Though I think Aster’s personal politics are still pretty clear - the left’s mistakes are hypocritical, egotistical, & frustrating & the right’s mistakes are predatory in multiple ways & murderous. These sins are not equal.) What is made clear at the end though, is that no matter what side you stand on, the dishonest, the grifters, & the powerful end up on top and those with the best of intentions (maybe not methods) don’t. It’s a bleak but realistic statement that not many can make as well as Aster can.

All in, what I learned from Aster’s other work is there is always more under the surface & in the details & I think that’s why people dislike him. He isn’t going to have characters get into deep philosophical debates to prove the point, he’s going to have them argue over minutia like whether the homeless man is a paying customer at a currently operating place of business. Or he’s going to imply repeatedly that Louise was assaulted by her own father & show how all those most closely affected by that fact grapple with (or manipulate & deflect) that truth. All to say, I’m certain there’s still so much more I missed that is keeping this from a first watch five star rating, but I think I’ll get there.

Dang it it’s just the best movie of the year

This movie was insane. It depicted the time pretty well, while doing a lil embellishment. The turn towards the end makes it so memorable. Some things left me wanting, but all in all is was very memorable

It was alright

6,5/10