The Eddington trailer shows Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal battling over their small town in Ari Aster’s divisive new movie. Written and directed by Aster – known for Hereditary, Midsommar, and Beau is Afraid – his upcoming contemporary Western follows the conflict between a sheriff (Phoenix) and mayor (Pascal) in the fictional small town of Eddington, New Mexico in May of 2020. Eddington‘s cast includes other notable stars, such as Emma Stone and Austin Butler, alongside Luke Grimes, Deirdre O’Connell, and Michael Ward.

Now, A24 has released the official trailer for Eddington. It begins in 2020, during the midst of the pandemic, as Phoenix’s sheriff receives a nasal swab test and insists that Pascal’s mayor must stand six feet apart. Phoenix’s sheriff, Joe Cross, decides to run for mayor, putting him into conflict with Pascal’s incumbent mayor, Ted Garcia. This conflict sets the community on edge and causes tensions to explode, turning neighbors against each other. Watch the trailer below:

What The Eddington Trailer Means For The Movie

Everything That Was Revealed

After the minute-long Eddington teaser trailer consisted entirely of a social media scroll, indicating how crucial a role social media will play in the movie, the second trailer reveals much more footage from the actual film, from Phoenix and Pascal’s early standoff to the absolute pandemonium that eventually envelops the small town. There are further looks at Emma Stone’s Louise Cross, Joe’s religious wife, and Austin Butler’s Vernon Jefferson Peak, a social media figure that Joe seems to be influenced by.

Though Eddington proved to be deeply divisive during its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, the trailer highlights much of the critical acclaim for the movie. Eddington reviews have called the film “extraordinary,” “brilliant,” “the first truly modern Western,” and “a sniper-accurate vision of America” that “you never want to look away” from and “will leave you breathless.” Other critics compared the film to a “firework thrown into a gas station” and cautioned that “the world isn’t ready.”

Our Take On The Eddington Trailer

This Could Be Ari Aster’s Most Divisive Movie Yet

Based on the trailer and early reviews, Eddington could very well be Ari Aster’s most divisive movie yet due to its incendiary and deeply political subject matter. Tackling themes of community fracture, pandemic paranoia, and American idenтιтy, the film seems designed to provoke strong reactions on all sides. A24 deserves mᴀssive credit for supporting Aster’s uncompromising vision, but whether Eddington can connect with mainstream audiences, or whether its confrontational tone might severely limit its box office potential, remains one of the year’s biggest questions for Aster and A24.

Source: A24