Eddington

"Hindsight is 2020."

2025 2h 28m EN

😐

6.5

MID

★6.5TMDB · 969

WesternComedyCrime

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

In May of 2020, a standoff between a small-town sheriff and mayor sparks a powder keg as neighbor is pitted against neighbor in Eddington, New Mexico.

“Hindsight is 2020.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Joaquin Phoenix
Joe Cross
Deirdre O'Connell
Dawn Bodkin
Emma Stone
Louise Cross
Micheal Ward
Michael Cooke
Pedro Pascal
Ted Garcia
Cameron Mann
Brian Frazee
Matt Gomez Hidaka
Eric Garcia
Luke Grimes
Guy Tooley

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Ari Aster
Writers: Ari Aster, Tyler Gibb
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America, Finland

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 55% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released last year.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United States of America, Finland.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CAST

Did you know

245+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Ari Aster, shot by Darius Khondji. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Daniel Pemberton. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Lucian Johnston shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Joaquin Phoenix and Deirdre O'Connell and Emma Stone carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Ari Aster directs. Darius Khondji behind the camera. Daniel Pemberton scores. Lucian Johnston cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America, Finland. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Earned back only 55% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
2Released last year.
3International production across 2 countries: United States of America, Finland.
4245+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
5Directed by Ari Aster, shot by Darius Khondji. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Daniel Pemberton. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Lucian Johnston shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Joaquin Phoenix and Deirdre O'Connell and Emma Stone carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Hindsight is 2020.".
10IMDB entry: tt31176520 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 16 themes, including "small town", "sheriff", "husband wife relationship", "new mexico".

The technical file

Cinematography: Darius Khondji
Original score: Daniel Pemberton
Editing: Lucian Johnston
Production design: Elliott Hostetter
Costume design: Anna Terrazas
Makeup / hair: Michelle Connolly
VFX supervisor: Richard Friedlander
Sound: Paul Hsu
Stunt coordinator: Timothy Eulich
Runtime: 148 min · 2h 28m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $25,000,000
Box office: $13,738,227
Return: 55% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Eddington (2025)

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Ari Aster

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Nick_Milligan2025-06-22
Wow. A lot to process and unpack. Eddington received rapturous applause and huge moments of laughter at Sydney Film Festival. It’s chaotic, freewheeling and incredibly funny. Yes - it is Aster’s best film. Aster has made an unhinged social satire on the culture wars - the division, virtue signalling and general disingenuousness. And he does so with sub-machine gun precision, much like the one that appears in the final act. Aster’s is a scattershot approach, rife with motif and self-aware savagery. No one is safe - right-wingers get both barrels, but the resulting shrapnel hits a lot of attention-seeking privileged white kids. Ideologies fester in the microcosm of the small titular New Mexican town, the fever and sweats mirrored by the Covid that slowly takes hold of our main character. Someone once said “the road to hell is paved with good intentions” and certainly proves true in this bleak comedy. We’re not completely through the chaos satirised in Aster’s fourth feature. Not by a very long shot. But this neo-Western, with assured insanity, turns a mirror to our modern war of shouting-over-listening, and poses the question, “Guys, what the fuck are we doing?”
Brent Marchant2025-07-20
★ 8/10
Some would say – and quite astutely at that – there’s plenty of madness to go around these days, and they’d be right. But where and when did this begin? A good place to start looking would be the COVID-19 Pandemic, a time when fear was ratcheted up, conspiracy theories ran amok, “protective” measures slid into excessive overreach, neighbors routinely spied on (and often made unsupported accusations about) neighbors, and people’s imaginations were let loose without restraint. What began as an alleged but widely legitimized public health crisis soon spilled over into myriad other areas of life as tempers, paranoia and disinformation flared to new heights. So why did this happen? As we look back now with the benefit of hindsight, it’s gradually become clearer what unfolded, although many of us still don’t acknowledge it or discuss it much. Thankfully, this is where writer-director Ari Aster has stepped in, gobsmacking us out of our indifference, denial and complacency with his fourth feature outing, a no-holds-barred cinematic essay on that time of profound and rampant insanity in May 2020 as depicted through the lives of the citizens of the fictional small desert town of Eddington, New Mexico. This cross-genre blend of comedy, drama, modern-day Western and social satire shoves its content squarely in our faces, forcing us to take a critical look at it, no matter how much many of us would rather not do so. The result is an incisive, insightful, incendiary multifaceted examination of what can happen when all sense of reason is recklessly cast to the winds. While the film covers a wide range of material and numerous story threads, its primary plotline follows the simmering feud between longtime well-liked mayor Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal), a by-the-book supporter of community welfare and official public health and safety policies, and sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix), a commonsense law enforcement professional who urges the public to assess their circumstances realistically and with an acute degree of discernment. But that’s just the beginning: when matters grow increasingly heated and inherently more unpredictable between them, Cross challenges Garcia in the upcoming mayoral race in which the incumbent had been running unopposed. And, as tensions mount in the wake of the stress caused by both the COVID outbreak, the local political discord and the emergence of inflamed social disturbances (such as the protests that broke out nationwide, including in Eddington, in the wake of the George Floyd killing in Minneapolis), conditions erode further, going from bad to worse, reaching an eventual breaking point, both for Garcia and Cross, as well as the entire local population. The filmmaker employs an intriguing approach in telling this epic saga, examining the prevailing conditions without judgment but pointedly depicting all of them with equal degrees of inspired and unfiltered lunacy, incorporating a narrative style that in some ways recalls the work of director Yorgos Lanthimos. In accomplishing this, the picture maximizes its impact through skillful cinematography and film editing, bitingly scathing writing, and an excellent ensemble including both leads and a host of colorful supporting performances from the likes of Emma Stone, Austin Butler, Deirdre O’Connell, Michael Ward, Cameron Mann, Matt Gomez Hidaka, Luke Grimes, Amèlie Hoeferle and William Belieau, among others. While the film’s final act is admittedly somewhat overlong and periodically unhinged, the finished product overall nevertheless represents quite an accomplished work of filmmaking. To be sure, this offering won’t appeal to everyone and is likely to generate divisive reactions among both avid cinephiles and casual moviegoers. But, for those unafraid of confronting issues that have largely been swept under the rug, this one is right up your alley. As Mark Twain once wisely observed, “It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled,” and Aster draws on that sentiment frequently throughout this work. No matter what one may believe about the events of five years ago, the director skillfully spotlights the chaos of that time and how it often manifested as an exercise in deception, control and a loss of common sense in so many areas of everyday life. Let’s sincerely hope we learn our lesson from this film so that we needn’t go through an experience like that ever again.
Manuel São Bento2025-08-13
★ 7/10
FULL SPOILER-FREE REVIEW @ https://movieswetextedabout.com/eddington-movie-review-from-covid-satire-to-blood-soaked-western-noir/ "Eddington is an intense portrait of pandemic-era life and its social repercussions, exploring themes of leadership, polarization, and community collapse, anchored by a standout Joaquin Phoenix performance as a man slowly unraveling. Ari Aster takes risks by fusing genres and radically shifting from sociopolitical satire to violent, chaotic thriller midway through - a choice that both energizes and fragments the story. Even so, the combination of formal ambition, thematic relevance, and strong performances makes it a provocative, memorable work." Rating: B