In May 2020, the sheriff of a small New Mexico town opposes the mayor's mask mandate and decides to run against him. Politics, conspiracy theories and protests push the town toward violence. Worth watching as Aster's take on a modern Western.
Eddington is a 2025 western, drama and crime film directed by Ari Aster. This breakdown covers 5 techniques (1 narrative, 2 psychology, 1 cinematography and 1 editing), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Hell or High Water uses several of the same techniques.
Using a genre's familiar rules, like its heroes and its violence, to take those rules apart. The film turns your expectations into a political point the genre usually avoids.
How this film uses it
Aster wrote it as a contemporary Western. The sheriff, the mayor and the town fight echo old Western roles but sit in the middle of a pandemic.
Where to see it
The campaign: Sheriff Joe Cross runs for mayor against Ted Garcia, and a Western showdown plays out through politics.
Placing people in a pressured situation where politeness and rules fall apart. The film watches panic or fear turn ordinary people into something cruder, sometimes for laughs.
How this film uses it
As protests grow and lockdown rules clash, polite town life falls apart. People turn on each other and rules stop mattering.
Where to see it
The protests: demonstrations during the pandemic and the George Floyd protests push the town into open conflict.
Building suspicion step by step, as characters feel watched or doubt those around them. The sense of being observed grows until it shapes every choice.
How this film uses it
Joe's wife Louise and her mother Dawn follow conspiracy theories. Suspicion builds step by step until it shapes every choice.
Where to see it
Louise and Dawn: they feed on conspiracy theories as Joe's campaign grows.
Treating a small town as more than a setting. Its buildings, lighting and relationships show the community's values and limits, which shape what the characters can do and what gets destroyed.
How this film uses it
The fictional town of Eddington, New Mexico, carries the divide between sides. Its streets and public spaces turn into the arena for the fight.
Where to see it
The town: the sheriff, the mayor and the neighbors all play out the conflict in Eddington's public spaces.
Jumping ahead years after the story has resolved to show what became of a character. The whole story before it then reads as a look back at what was right and wrong.
How this film uses it
The film jumps ahead a year to show what became of the main figures. The whole story reads as a look back at what the violence bought.
Where to see it
The year later: Joe is mayor but brain-damaged, Dawn speaks for him, and a data center opens.
Questions
Eddington: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does Eddington use?
CineCode breaks down 5 techniques in Eddington (2025): Revisionist Genre Argument, Social Order Breakdown, Paranoia Spiral, Small Town as Moral Geography and Jump-Forward Epilogue.
Who directed Eddington?
Ari Aster directed Eddington, released in 2025. CineCode also covers Hereditary (2018), Midsommar (2019), Beau Is Afraid (2023).
What films are similar to Eddington?
Films that share techniques with Eddington include Hell or High Water (2016), Everybody Knows (2018), It's a Wonderful Life (1946), Django Unchained (2012).
