Martin Scorsese heaps praise on Ari Aster’s ‘Eddington’
Martin Scorsese has praised director Ari Aster for his new movie, Eddington, which arrives in UK cinemas on August 22nd and in the United States from today (July 18th).
The movie is set against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, when misinformation spread like wildfire on social media. In the trailer, Joaquin Phoenix’s character is seen doom-scrolling on his phone and getting sucked into the conspiracy theories that ran rampant at the time.
The official synopsis for Eddington reads: “In May of 2020, a standoff between a small-town sheriff (Joaquin Phoenix) and mayor (Pedro Pascal) sparks a powder keg as neighbor is pitted against neighbor in Eddington, New Mexico.”
It also stars Austin Butler as the charismatic cult leader Vernon Jefferson Peak, who builds a huge platform online during the pandemic.
Ahead of its cinematic release in the US, Scorsese has shared his love for the movie. The Taxi Driver director, whose work is no stranger to violence, praised the use of this technique by Aster in Eddington, telling the New York Times that the movie successfully “externalizes the emotional violence” which is shown on screen.
According to Scorsese, the filmmaker “dives right into the side of American life that many people can’t bear to look at or even acknowledge — no one wants to listen to anyone else, which is frightening” in Eddington.
Scorsese has previously discussed his love for Aster’s work, previously describing the director as “one of the most extraordinary new voices in world cinema” during a Q&A in 2023.
In a three-and-a-half-star review, Far Out wrote of Eddington: “While it isn’t without its flaws, the urgency of the central message redeems any of its imperfections, with the director reiterating our need to re-engage with each other and convene within our collective truth.”
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