Bugonia - "Sometimes a Species Just Winds Down."

SPOILERS because this has been on VOD for weeks, and now it’s on Peacock. Also, I mainly want to write about the ending.

Yorgos Lanthimos speaks my language. With Poor Things, I realized he was the closest thing to Kubrick we have today. That’s not to say he’s copying Kubrick’s style (though there are certainly similarities), it’s more about his regard to humanity. His films show a disdain for humanity, but in a funny way. When I finish a Kubrick or Lanthimos film, my usual takeaway is that we’re fucked, but we can laugh about it because what else can you do? 

Which brings me to Bugonia. Ignoring the alien aspect for a bit, this film is about how we’ve polarized ourselves as a species into belief systems beyond religion. We now, thanks to technology, can make our own insulated worlds where everything we read and watch that we agree with is the truth, and anything that refutes our views is simply false and most likely part of a secret plot to destroy society as we know it. 

This is most punctuated by Teddy and Michelle’s spaghetti dinner conversation. At one point this interaction takes place:

Michelle: “Truth.”

Teddy: “Lies.”

Michelle: “What’s the difference? I can’t change your mind. 

Teddy: “You’re right. You can’t.”

This is our world now, and Bugonia takes this to the extreme.

In this film, aliens are real and among us, pharmaceutical companies are using us as unwitting lab rats, the Earth is flat, and we are all hollow worker bees waiting for our overlords to pull the plug, which they do at the end. It’s presented as darkly comedic. It has to be because it’s all so inherently silly, even with all the death. 

I hate to apply messages to movies, especially when you can make movies like this mean whatever you want it to mean. But I can’t help but think Teddy is an example of what happens if we just write off the fringe elements of society as simply “crazy.” Sometimes “crazy” people take action. 

But, and this is why I don’t like applying messages, Teddy is right. At least, he’s right about Michelle being an alien. He’s wrong in thinking he ever had a chance of getting to that ship and having an intergalactic détente with a bomb strapped to his abdomen, but he’s right about a lot of stuff. If that’s the case, is the film saying all the conspiracy theories are right? As a liberal, Michelle’s estimation that Teddy is a product of his own internet echo chamber is kind of how I feel about most people who disagree with me, politically and otherwise. So by dismissing people who believe shit like the Earth is flat, is Bugonia telling me I’m part of the problem, and I’m just a worker bee?

I don’t think so. Teddy isn’t presented as a hero here. He manipulates and uses Don just as much as he claims the Andromedans (sp?) manipulate humanity. Everybody sucks, and it doesn’t matter who is right or wrong because the world is already broken beyond repair. So if that’s the gist of it all, why not have some fun and make all the crazy shit real?

Though, based on some reddit deep dives, not everyone believes the alien stuff in the film. Some claim everything after the explosion doesn’t actually happen and is just the imagination of Michelle’s concussed brain. I’m sure people have their own reasons for not believing the alien aspect of the film, but I disagree. I think some people just find it too silly, and rather than admit that a film they liked up to that point faltered (in their opinion), they decide it’s all just a hallucination. My problem with that is that it adds nothing thematically to the movie. We’re meant to consider these two sides of humanity for nearly two hours, then it’s all scrapped for ten minutes of “it was all just a dream”? Not only does that negate anything meaningful, it’s also boring.

Others would argue the opposite, and that Michelle being an actual alien negates the satire of corporate leaders being so indifferent to humans that they could be confused for aliens. Making her an actual alien weakens that. Perhaps, but it’s not like Michelle is surrounded by fellow aliens. There are plenty of humans on board with what corporations are doing. With or without alien interference, humans would still be on the destructive path we’re on. So Michelle being an alien does negate the theory for her character specifically, but not for all of humanity.

Whether or not Michelle is really an alien is the crux of the plot, and with most directors, I would assume the resolution would either be ambiguous, or it would be revealed that this was all just part of Teddy’s mental illness and unwillingness to accept the trauma that has happened to him. That would still be an interesting story, and all the performances would still be as great as they are, but it wouldn’t be nearly as memorable as finishing the film on a spaceship and all of humanity being killed off. 

But since this is a Yorgos Lanthimos movie, I went in expecting the reveal to be that she is an alien. But a few minutes in, I started to wonder, “Does he think we expect the alien reveal, so he’s actually going with the traditional mental illness approach? But is he expecting us to be expecting him to do that, and he’s going with the alien plot?” It’s the kind of circular thinking of a poisoned wine scenario in which characters keep swapping out the glasses trying to anticipate what the other person anticipates until no one knows what the hell is going on. This is why I love Lanthimos’s work. He has established that his films will go to extreme and unexpected places to the point that I could never be fully confident in knowing where his films will go. That’s what makes him such an exciting director to have working today. When you watch as many movies as I do, being surprised becomes a rare gift. 

It’s always great when a movie can be argued about concerning what’s real and what’s imagined, but most importantly, Lanthimos can be counted on to make something entertaining as well as thought-provoking. He doesn’t do it alone, of course. I really need to tone down the auteur theory shit, but I can’t help it with some directors. Bugonia is very much a Lanthimos film, but without the performances of Plemons, Stone, Aiden Delbis, Stavros Halkias, and Alicia Silverstone, this is not the same film. And the score is so perfectly over-the-top. I cannot think of this film without hearing the score, as well. And it wouldn't exist it at all without Will Tracy's script, based on Jang Joon-hwan's screenplay. In other words, I know this isn’t a solo creation, but it’s easier sometimes to write about movies that way. 

All of this is just to say Bugonia is one of my favorite films of the year. My top ten isn’t locked in just yet, but right now it’s Sinners then this. Lanthimos and co. just have this ability to craft these beautifully ugly stories that should be absolutely miserable to sit through, but instead I want to keep returning to it (I’ve watched Bugonia four times as of this writing). And it’s a movie I can dwell on about what’s real and what does it all mean, if anything, or I can turn my brain off and let the insanity wash over me like a bucket of Don’s blood from a shotgun blast. 

Random Thoughts

Just to drive some Google searches my way: the title Bugonia comes from Ancient Greek and is based on the belief that bees were spontaneously generated from a cow's carcass. So obviously there is the bee connection in the film, but it also works for current humanity being the result of the destruction of the Andromedans' first attempt at creating a species on Earth.

According to Plemons, Lanthimos only gave composer Jerskin Fendrix four key words to go with to make the score: Bees. Basement. Spaceship. Emma-bald.” (This is on IMDb trivia, as well.) That’s wild, especially since it’s my favorite score of the year (I didn’t expect to like any score more than Sinners, but it happened). It’s over-bearing, filled with jump-scares, poignant, triumphant; I love it.

I have not seen Save the Green Planet! I plan to soon, but I wanted to write about this before so I don’t look at it as a remake. I don’t mean that I don’t want to consider it a remake; I mean, I don’t want to get distracted by looking at the similarities and differences.

The juxtaposition of the opposing training styles at the beginning is very Rocky IV-esque.

First time I’ve heard semen referred to as “fuck filler.” I don’t like it.

Lanthimos is so goddamned Greek he had to go with Jennifer Aniston for the kidnapping masks.

“No one on Earth gives a single fuck about us.”

The idea of Stavros as a babysitter is hilarious. 

When Teddy goes to hit her with a chair for being the grammar police he truly is the internet personified.

Stavros having to act like he wants cake was a real stretch.

“I don’t get the news from the news.”

Not that there’s a good time for your former sexually abusive babysitter turned cop to pay you a visit, but this has to be the worst time it could have happened for Teddy.

“I never, ever did that to anybody else.” I mean, I guess that’s a good thing, but no way that would ever make a victim feel better.

I know these random thoughts are Stavros-heavy (pun intended), but I watch so much of his podcast, I can’t help but point out how fucking crazy it is to see him in this. One last one: when I first came across Stavvy as a comedian, I would have never guessed I would one day see Jessie Plemons bludgeon him to death with a shovel as his head was covered in bees like Nic Cage at the end of The Wicker Man.

Poor Don. Dude just wanted to whack it, play videogames, eat taquitos, and maybe one day find love. Is that so wrong, or is that living in a prison created by the agro-corporate overlords?

“I’m not a sick ape!” I bet you smell like one, Teddy.

Even when she comes limping in with Teddy, she’s still on that “you can leave at 5:30 if you think that’s okay” bullshit. Total alien behavior.

Eyes Wide Shut - The Criterion Release

This is my eighth straight year of writing an Eyes Wide Shut article around Christmas, and thanks to the new Criterion 4K release, it’s finally kind of relevant. Not that I need new material or anything. Watching it again, there were multiple things that stuck out to me that I could have devoted an entire article to, but I’ll save for future years. That’s part of the reason why I love this movie so much; it’s the gift that keeps on giving. But having the Criterion is nice, and I’ve enjoyed (most) of the renewed attention the film has received online (at least on the dorky ass pages I follow). 

I’ll get into the special features below, but the main draw of this new release was the restoration by director of photography Larry Smith, restoring the film to the grainy glory Kubrick intended. Only Kubrick could make me buy a 4K blu-ray so I could watch his film with less definition. 

Honestly, I am the wrong guy to comment in depth about transfers and restorations and whatnot. I’ve never minded the smoothed out version of the film. With Kubrick, I’ve always been more interested in the different aspect ratios the home video releases feature. I’m the kind of dickhead who watched that first Predator release with the smoothing that made Arnold and Carl Weathers look like wax figures come to life and thought, “Holy shit, the future is here, and it’s called ‘blu-ray!’” 

Still, I’m all for seeing movies the way the director intended, so of course I was on board for this release. Watching it in 4K, the graininess was off-putting at first, but I grew to appreciate it. Coupled with the constant glowing holiday lights, the grain truly does add a dream-like quality to the film. 

Beyond the transfer, the main effect of this release was the re-opening of conspiracy theories. Suddenly interviews were popping up with people claiming there was no way this is the version Kubrick would have released had he lived. But others close to him are adamant that this was his finished cut, but isn’t that exactly what they would make them say? I don’t put much stock into this stuff. First off, because this is the only version we’re ever going to get. Secondly, most of these people are full of shit and were not there or involved in any way. 

There are plenty of aspects about the conspiracy theories about this film that annoy me that I’ll get into below, but I also want to acknowledge the main thing that bothers me about it. A lot of these theories come from people hating the movie. Instead of admitting they didn’t like a Kubrick movie, they have to rely on conspiracy theories to explain why it’s bad. I’ve seen comments along the lines of, “How could this master filmmaker make such a mess? Of course the studio re-cut it.” I don’t understand why people can’t just own their opinion. It’s okay to not like movies from great filmmakers; there’s no need to make up a story to explain it. 

Now I’m just sounding like a disgruntled fanboy. So with that in mind, I’ll continue bitching about conspiracy theories below. 

Conspiracies, Again

I’ve covered plenty of conspiracy shit regarding Eyes Wide Shut over the years, but I feel the need to rehash some of it since a new release, especially in the middle of the Epstein files shit, opened the floodgates for the old theories to pop back up online. I like that it gets more people talking about the film again, but it also opens up a lot of dismissive comments that infuriate me. I’m talking about the people that buy into the “missing 24 minutes” that got Kubrick killed. They will just dismiss the movie with something like, “Eyes Wide Shut was such a mess because it got butchered by the studio. Who knows how great it could have been if Kubrick could have finished it?” 

First off, I don’t buy into the missing footage conspiracy. Of course there’s a ridiculous amount of footage not used in the final film (it holds the record for longest continual shoot, after all), but that doesn’t mean there’s some magical footage that would’ve brought down a global pedophile ring. 

Before I get into it, let me make it clear that I don’t think EWS is exclusively about pedophiles aside from LeeLee Sobieski’s character (which is taken from the book, by the way). I don’t buy into Helena being sold into sex slavery in the toy shop at the end just because two dudes walk behind her in the final scene. 

Eyes Wide Shut was always about sex and marriage. The orgy was just one of many examples of Bill attempting to get revenge on Alice for her admission of fantasizing about cheating on him. The orgy is in the book, too. People act like Kubrick was really shining a light on a hidden world with that orgy. Did it really take watching Eyes Wide Shut for people to realize that rich and powerful people sometimes do weird sex shit? Human nature has not changed over our history. Powerful humans have been doing fucked-up sex shit forever, Kubrick just used common knowledge along with source material for the sex in the film. 

Some people even go so far as to claim Kubrick was trying to expose Epstein with this film. Even though friends and colleagues claim Kubrick was not a shut in, no one can argue that he was a world traveler. He never left England after 2001: A Space Odyssey. That doesn’t mean he couldn’t still be in the know about nefarious shit, but what, did someone fax him about Epstein? That’s why the sex cult in the film is so vague and general. Kubrick knew shit like that existed, but it’s not like he ever witnessed it or investigated it. People take that moon landing conspiracy shit and try to turn Kubrick into this mastermind attempting to alert the world to things through his films, but if that was the case, he did a piss-poor job about it. 

I’ve seen arguments about how particular Kubrick is about even set decoration as an example of everything having meaning and whatnot. I can buy this, to a degree. For instance, I do think the paintings and use of decorations have meaning, but a lot of stuff doesn’t. In an interview in a special feature with set decorator Lisa Leone, she explains that she was sending Kubrick pictures of a friend’s apartment for reference for Domino’s apartment. She found out her friend was moving and just getting rid of most of the stuff in the apartment; she told Kubrick and he had her ship all of it to England. Yes, that’s crazy, but it’s not hand-picking every little thing. Kubrick still had people working in different departments on his films. He was not a one-man show.

Finally, one of the main things actors bring up when discussing what it was like to work with Kubrick, they bring up how long he would take to film even simple scenes. Sometimes this was because he was waiting to get something he couldn’t explain to the performers. Other times it was because he was re-writing the scene. You can see this in the The Shining documentary his daughter filmed (he’s seen typing new pages of the script on set). Pollack has talked about the same thing happening for his billiard room scene. If Kubrick was this singularly focused genius who had every last detail meticulously planned out, then why the fuck was he re-writing scenes the day they were shooting them? People, especially the conspiracy theorists, don’t want to admit that Kubrick was collaborative and open to change . I just don’t know how someone who’s open to re-writing a scene on the day of shooting is also including secret messages exposing the world’s pedophiles: “Hold on, Sydney, I forgot to add that line about Jeffrey Epstein in your dialogue. Let me get that typed up, and we’ll finally finish this scene.”

The one thing I will concede would have been different had Kubrick lived is the R-rated cut of the film. No fucking way he would have been okay with those horrendous digitally inserted bodies blocking the more explicit moments. He would have either found a better way to do the scene with alternate footage, or perhaps his clout could have convinced the MPAA to change their rating. After all, the blocked out stuff is not that graphic. 

The orgy edit is an example of what kind of meddling a studio would do without Kubrick around to stop them. Something to get an R-rating so the film could be shown in more theaters. I can’t imagine them seeing some extended cut with names and addresses of the world’s most powerful pedophiles and saying, “Okay, we need to give Kubrick a ‘heart attack’ so we can cut this stuff, and while we’re at it, let’s tone down that orgy.” Finally, if Kubrick is this once-in-a-generation genius, would he really be naïve enough to put something like that in a cut shown to executives who most likely take part in some weird sex shit, or are least good friends with people that do? He can’t be a mastermind and a dipshit at the same time. But maybe I’m just a fucking sheep. If so, I’ll keep being docile and just enjoy movies like this; I’ll leave the conspiracies to the lions and wolves in our society, fighting the online fight to combat the billions of pedophiles in the world by posting shit online. Godspeed, you keyboard warriors, but leave my Kubrick movies the fuck alone.

Special Features

There’s plenty of archival stuff available on older releases here, and a few things added that don’t really pertain to Eyes Wide Shut (like Lost Kubrick), and it’s fine. The new features are interviews with director of photography Larry Smith, set-decorator and second-unit director Lisa Leone, and archivist Georgina Orgill. Leone’s interview is the most interesting, as she details all the ways she helped Kubrick craft his fake, dream-like New York in England.

The other interesting addition to the special features is an interview with Sydney Pollack from 1999 included in the booklet. He doesn’t drop any bombshells, aside from confirming he was not on set for the orgy scene, so perhaps the pirate hat dude was Ziegler, but it definitely wasn’t Pollack. It’s just interesting to get Pollack’s perspective on Kubrick and his process.

The special features were always going to be secondary to the transfer since Kubrick fans are obsessive about seeing his films the way they were meant to be seen, but I was still a bit disappointed by them. I wasn’t expecting them to delve into conspiracy theories like Kubrick being killed by the studio or whatever, but there are some things I’ve come across over the years I would like more info about. There’s the boat picture with the Harfords that shows up from time to time reminding us of deleted scenes and endless alternate takes. Would it be so terrible to put together something for the fans? What’s the point of extensive archives if shit like this is never going to see the light of day?

And then there’s a supposed commentary track Sydney Pollack recorded for a 2007 release that was scrapped. I can’t find anything concrete about this, but man, if that’s out there, that would be amazing.

I guess I shouldn’t expect much from these releases as special features on most of Kubrick’s films consist of interviews with people years later or people not even directly involved. But a guy can dream. Here’s hoping the inevitable 8K release in a few years digs more deeply into the archives. 

Random Thoughts 

It’s always interesting to me how calm Bill is when he gets to Ziegler’s bathroom. They are at a Christmas party and suddenly he’s called into a bathroom with a shirtless Ziegler and a naked woman possibly ODing. I know doctors are trained to keep their cool, but this doesn’t even warrant a “what the fuck?” glance from Bill? But then again, that kind of cold demeanor in the face of rich guy fuckery is probably why Bill was invited to the party in the first place.

If it really was an OD, is Dr. Bill human Narcan? Can you just slowly talk someone out of an OD? I sincerely don’t know. 

For years, because of this movie and True Lies, I thought it was very common when discussing art for someone to ask, “Do you like the period?” and for someone to respond, “I adore it.” That interaction happens at the beginning of True Lies, with a tuxedo-clad Austrian man saying this to a lady he’s flirting with at an ultra-rich guy’s party. Then in EWS, a tuxedo-clad Hungarian asks this and answers it with an “I adore it” as well. I couldn’t imagine there was any connection between the two movies, so I assumed fancy people said this shit all the time. Until…

I found this article, in which James Cameron claims he went to Kubrick’s house, and all Kubrick wanted to talk about was True Lies. So this had to be an intentional homage. Wild.

Not sure what the right move is when you’re a doctor, and you visit a dead patient, but I guess just putting your hand on their forehead for a second or two works.

“Marion, we barely know each other. I don’t think we’ve had a single conversation about anything except your father.”

“What do you recommend?” I hate it when people ask waitstaff what they recommend at restaurants. I couldn’t imagine posing the same question to a prostitute.

“I don’t keep track of the time.” Yeah, and you don’t keep track of whether or not the dude is using a condom, either, do you, Domino?

So some of the people treat the orgy like prom and take a fucking limo? What a bunch of horny losers.

I know Nick has a complex set-up there, but could they really not just go with a recording of his performance? Or is that part of the power trip? “Yeah, we’re so fucking rich we can afford to pay some dildo from across the country to play piano blindfolded while a handful of us fuck and the vast majority of us just stand around.”

“Sorry I woke you up from your gang bang dream in which I’m made the ultimate cuck. Anyhoo, good night, honey!”

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs - "All the Meanness in the Used-to-Be."

As I reach the end of the Coen filmography (as a duo, and hopefully not the true end), I have started to consider my Coen fandom. Before I started this rewatch, I would have put them up there with my favorite filmmakers of all time, and that’s still the case. But the tail end of things did give me a little doubt, and that’s bullshit. My love of the majority of their filmography put my expectations far too high. So when I see something like Hail, Caesar! and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, I come away liking them and even appreciating how others can find them to be masterpieces, but I’m disappointed that I didn’t love the films.

This is obviously my own problem and no fault of the Coens. With Scruggs specifically, I think my issue was how much I loved True Grit upon this most recent re-watch. That movie just gets better every time I watch it. The first time I watched Scruggs, I don’t think I was expecting another True Grit, but the episodic nature of it threw me, and the Netflix release of it bothered me, as well. I’ve gotten more accepting of streaming releases, but there’s still this ‘90s kid in me that thinks of them as direct-to-video releases that are inherently lesser than theatrical releases.

Ignoring the streaming aspect (though I still think it’s bullshit that this doesn’t have a physical release), the episodic formula made this feel more like a limited series than a movie. I prefer longer stories from the Coens, not vignettes. Of course, all of this depends on how much you like the vignettes.

For the most part, I enjoyed them all. The titular “Scruggs” is my favorite just for the morbid fun (nothing beats the Kurgan shooting himself in the face three times) of it all. And I could watch a whole movie of Tim Blake Nelson singing and murdering his way through the Old West. The James Franco segment is better than just the meme it spawned. I’ll take Stephen Root yelling “Pan shot!” over “First time?” every time. And the Tom Waits prospector segment is simply beautiful. 

While my favorite segments feature plenty of death and misery, I still find them mostly fun. The other three segments bum me out. The wagon train segment is fine, and I appreciate how shitty it presents the reality of the world (and it confirms that Grandma Turner from True Grit is still kicking, or was, if it takes place before). But that ending is a bit of a gut punch. “The Mortal Remains” is my least favorite segment. I just don’t enjoy Sartre-type shit, even though all the acting and dialogue is top-notch. I especially enjoyed Harris from Major League (Chelcie Ross) as a fur trapper even goofier than the dentist with the bear hide from True Grit. 

Those two segments are downers, but nothing compares to “Meal Ticket,” with Liam Neeson and Harry Melling. Nothing in the entire Coen filmography bums me out as much as this segment. It’s to the point that if I ever watch this again, I plan on skipping this part. And that’s my biggest “issue” with the film; it bums me out. It’s just not something I want to return to, whereas films like Llewyn Davis, Raising Arizona, Miller’s Crossing, The Big Lebowski, Fargo, True Grit, No Country for Old Men, A Serious Man, and The Man Who Wasn’t There create worlds I want to revisit and spend time in, year after year, even if they contain some terrible things, as well. And I truly cannot explain what it is about those movies compared to the others that click with me, but I’ve seen some wildly different rankings of their films all over the internet, so I know I’m not alone. When one person’s bottom film can be another’s favorite, then you know you’re dealing with some of the best filmmakers of all time.

Eddington - "Just Don't Make Me Think. Post It."

I like all of Ari Aster’s movies, but I have never wanted to watch any of them a second time, until Eddington. Aster’s work is unnerving and often unpleasant to watch (by design, I believe). He is capable of striking a tone in his work that I don’t want to revisit even though I can appreciate how effective it is. When I saw the first trailer for his Covid film, Eddington, I assumed it would be more of the same: fascinating and thought-provoking, but the recreation of the shitshow the world devolved into at the time (and still) would be miserable to sit through. But a funny thing happened as the credits rolled on Eddington: I wanted to immediately watch it again.

So what, right? A movie doesn’t have to be rewatchable to be good, but for someone like me, it’s a big deal. If a film creates a story or world that I want to visit again and again, then the filmmakers have done something right. 

It’s not that the world of Eddington is one I want to live in. For one thing, we all lived through that world and continue to do so. But it’s such an amusing (slight) exaggeration of that time that it makes me feel a little better about the world, even though that does not seem to be the goal of the film. It’s just nice to have this document that sums up our world better than I ever could. 

What first drew me into Eddington is the nonstop barrage of shit that comes at Joaquin Phoenix, a lot of which is his own doing. So many things are going on, like a mask mandate, and a tumultuous history with the mayor (Pedro Pascal), and a QAnon-type cult leader (Austin Butler) recruiting his wife (Emma Stone), and the Black Lives Matter movement, and the constant conflict with the Native American police, and the data center a shadowy corporation wants to build, and fucking social media, and fuck! Before anyone can even get all the details of the newest issue, another one pops up. It’s whac-a-mole, but with human suffering and mental illness. 

Phoenix’s character and performance holds it all together, even though he can’t hold anything together. He never really explodes when you think he might, and he has this oddly laid back line delivery that always feels accurately defeated. He can’t seem to finish his thoughts and sentences without drifting into other thoughts and sentences. He is very much the personification of doomscrolling. It’s a snippet about one issue, then it’s off to the next before you can even form a thought about the previous one. Most of the other characters are the opposite, but no less troubled. They are laser-focused on one issue and blind to all others. 

This has been happening for a long time, but the pandemic seemed to fasttrack our psychological demise as a species. Aster’s ability to recreate this isn’t all that impressive. It’s not that hard to throw a bunch of crazy shit at a character, especially when a lot of it really happened. What makes Eddington special is that it’s a fun watch. 

Though I am guilty of doomscrolling and feeling overwhelmed by the world at large like anyone else, I feel like I’ve done a decent job of being mindful of it from time to time and stepping away from it. Watching movies and writing meandering articles about them helps. And being a parent and no longer dealing with any kind of shutdown or anything has kept me distracted enough to think the world has reached some form of normal, or at least I’ve been conditioned enough to find it normal. 

So when I see this version of 2020 boiled down into one fucked-up small town that can also serve as a reminder of the country’s fucked up history with the native population, it’s oddly funny and comforting. Yeah, shit’s bad, but it’s not Eddington bad. And like Ed Tom tells Wendell in No Country for Old Men about laughing at a gruesome story: “That’s all right. I laugh myself sometimes. Ain’t a whole lot else you can do.”

Finding the humor in Eddington is the key to enjoying it. There is no real message to the film; at least, I didn’t come away with a message aside from: we’re fucked. If you go into this wanting to find your opinions on all the polarizing issues of the time vindicated, then you’ll end up more annoyed than entertained. Everyone comes across as a bit crazy here, and yes, just calling everyone crazy is a false equivalency. But if you’re looking honestly at the world in a condensed form like a movie, then people, even if they are mostly right, are going to look crazy. 

This movie is not a condemnation of mask mandates or BLM protests or QAnon conspiracy theories, but it’s not an endorsement of them, either. Any major social issue is going to be two-sided, and each side will have people who take things too far. Of course, there are degrees to this. A person wearing a mask for a Zoom meeting is taking things too far, but it’s not hurting anyone; but a person who decides to take a rifle to a protest in the hopes of possibly legally shooting someone sure as fuck is. 

Eddington isn’t about which side is worse or “right” or anything like that. We have our algorithms to feed us content to tell us we’re right. This is a movie that looks at that boiling point in our history and says, “Fuck it, let’s at least have a little fun with this.” Let’s have some silly, stupid people yell at each other and make a mess of their world, and let’s finish it all off with a big action set piece.

At one point, Phoenix tells an underling, “Just don’t make me think. Post it.” It’s a great line that sums up social media, and the internet in general, but it also encapsulated my viewing experience. Whether it’s trying to or not, Eddington didn’t make me think about any of the specific issues it portrays. It just gave me the world at large, and at that distance, it became entertaining instead of disheartening. I never would have pegged Aster as the filmmaker to accomplish that, but he did, and I plan on watching Eddington a third time soon.  

Random Thoughts

I feel like this whole article consisted of my random thoughts, but I’ll add a few strays here, I guess.

“My job is to sit down and listen, which is what I plan to do after making this speech, which I have no right to make!” As a white dude liberal, this one hit home, but I still find it to be the funniest line in the movie. 

Deirdre O’Connell never-ending drone of conspiracy theories makes her a human doomscroll.

Is it lame to use the term “doomscroll”? I’ve only recently used it a few times, and if I’m using a relatively new word, then it probably means it’s lame.

The spelling errors on the campaign materials was a nice touch.

Always nice to Clifton Collins, Jr., even if he is a Covid monster in this.

This makes for a good double feature with Lone Star. I’ve been meaning to watch it for years, and then I stumbled across it on Tubi literally a couple days after watching this. I’m surprised it’s not brought up more as an inspiration or at least a very similar film.

I take that back: after Googling “Eddington Lone Star” a few articles popped connecting the two. Anyway, if you liked this movie at all, you should check out Lone Star.