"Eddington" Premiere at Cannes

Though not to be released here until July, this film premiered at the Cannes film festival - and met with a 5-minute standing ovation!

Interestingly, however, it has been met with a lower critic score thus far on Rotten Tomatoes of only 63% at present, by American press, before its U.S. release?

Some of them big American Hollywood press, like RogerEbert.com and The Hollywood Reporter saying things like "irresponsible" and "annoying, uninteresting."

Hmmm ... interesting.

So it's super rare for any movie to receive a standing ovation at Cannes - so what's with the midling-ish reviews in some cases - so what explains this?

Could it be that Europe loved it but America hated it?

Because I understand it's a very political film that it spares no one and takes aim at everyone.

I don't know for sure, I haven't seen it yet, but I've seen this only a couple of times - that Hollywood Press doesn't like it if you skewer them along with everyone else in America - so that's my best guess before seeing it, but I could be wrong. 

Also, it's written by Ari Aster, a horror filmmaker who did both Hereditary and Midsommar, and his films can be extremely disturbing.

Though absolutely brilliant filmmaking - and as much as I love spooky horror films like riding an amusement-park ride - Ari Aster's films are the exception - to the degree that those are the only 2 horror films I will never watch again - they hung on me for days!

(Well, there's a 3rd movie I won't watch again that's not Ari Aster called "The Front Room" which isn't as good, but gave me nightmares for more personal reasons - the  religious-spooky, manipulative MIL law reminded me of someone in my family!)

It's not that Ari Aster films are that gory, it's that they push boundaries in such a psychologically disturbing way that they hang on you days after watching - definitely nightmare fuel!

So of course with it being an Ari Aster, that's another potential reason. Horror films don't often get rave reviews and this one promises to have you squirming in your seat uncomfortable already, tack on his take on American politics, particularly during the COVID pandemic. 

And that brings us to the premise of this film.

(Though the picture is a sad truth, I also love the metaphor and the tagline - "Hindsight is 2020."

The film is about the fictional town of Eddington, New Mexico, set during the COVID pandemic, turning neighbor against neighbor.

And in case you miss the metaphor from the ad poster, it's showing how panicked, stampeding herds will often following the crowd/stampede - right off a cliff.

(No, it is not a metaphor about those of us who believed in the common sense of wearing masks or who getting vaccinated, it's actually the opposite - people who politicized a deadly virus, discouraging people from keeping themselves safe, for their own political gain.) 

Here's what Ari Aster has said himself about his film:  

“I wanted to show what it feels like to live in a world where nobody can agree on what is real anymore. Over the last 20 years, we’ve fallen into this age of hyper-individualism. That social force that used to be central in liberal mass democracies — and agreed upon vision of the world — that is gone now. COVID felt like the moment where that link was finally cut for good. I wanted to make a film about what America feels like, to me. I’m very worried.”

It's interesting, because I was literally talking to my boss yesterday about how I've seen firsthand how after hurricanes, people pull together and help each other - regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation or anything else.

Because unfortunately, it often takes an equalizing disaster to bring out the best in people.

COVID-19 should have been it - but it wasn't. 

In order for people to get out and vote, we had a certain politician telling us at first it was a hoax,  then just a bad flu, then that it would magically disappear, to not wear masks (though surgeons have to wear them to not spread infection and it's a common-sense barrier from infection), and finally, not to get vaccinated - all so that you would continue to work for billionaires at your own risk and get out and vote for them.

I personally know of at least 5 Trump voters who died during the pandemic, not realizing until the day they died that they'd been misinformed and lied to about it by Trump and right-wing press.

In particular, my previous hair stylist lost both parents to COVID-19, believing it a hoax, that the government was just trying to control you by making you wear a mask and get vaccinated, who both said on their death bed they wished they hadn't listened to Trump et all and had just practiced common sense with a deadly virus.

Back to the film, it has some of my favorite actors in the film, Emma Stone, Pedro Pascal, and Austin Butler.

(BTW, Austin Butler is yet another young actor that I picked out long ago as a potential superstar after watching "The Shannara Chronicles" on Paramount back in 2016 during Paramount's first struggling years as a network. 

I remember saying to Mark "This kid is unusually talented. He has this unusual combination in someone so young of quiet sensitivity and edgy, tortured-artist strength, like a controlled wildness - 0making you feel like he could go off on someone at any moment, but he never does. I hope Hollywood takes notice despite being on a struggling network and a canceled show. And if they do, I hope they don't eff him up first!"

Of course, Yellowstone hit not long after that, which saved Paramount.

And Austin, of course, went on to win an Oscar for "Elvis." 😊

Bear in mind, I've pegged some before, before they were famous (and some who never went anywhere, but should have, or perhaps Hollywood effed them up first) - most notably while watching Shia Lebeouf on  "Even Stevens" on Nickelodeon with my daughter way back in 2002.

I remember saying: "His sense of comedic timing is extraordinary, that can't be taught - but he also has depth when needed. If they clean him up a little, he could be a superstar someday."

Unfortunately, Shia turned out to be a troubled soul, but he IS one hell of an actor that likely could've taken home an Oscar someday, if not for his antics. 

Back to the film, because of who's in it and the subject matter -  plus the strange contrast between a 20-minute standing ovation at Cannes but so-so reviews thus far, before its release -  now I'm totally curious!

Plus after returning to the U.S., considering the subject matter, thte actors were asked if he was afraid to return to the U.S., not only because of the subject matter, but Trump's threat to impose movie tariffs, under the guises of wanting movies made exclusively in American (though the production companies/actors mostly are already), but in actuality, for content control and a cut of profits.

Pedro Pascal's answer is is one of the many reasons we love Pedro - he can play a suave, dashing swordsman, but he's kind of a nerdy goof in interview - and he is unafraid to speak his mind.

He said:

“Fear is the way that they win. So keep telling the stories, keep expressing yourself and keep fighting to be who you are, Fuck the people that try to make you scared, you know? And fight back. This is the perfect way to do so in telling stories. And don’t let them win.”

However, he also knows when to pull back, to not let his opinions take the attention away from the movie he's promoting -  plus he's  more reserved about certain issues because of how they could affect his immediate family if he spotlights them.

For example, Pedro was born in Chile, but once the democratic  socialist government was overthrown by the very violent, right-wing dictator, Auguste Pinochet (whom the U.S. initially helped into office, mind you), his physician and child-psychologist parents were persecuted. 

His parents sought legal asylum after persecution under Pinochet -  first in Denmark, then in the U.S. in Texas, which is where Pedro grew up.

Thus, when asked about immigration issues, out of concern not for himself, but his family, he answered:

“Obviously, it’s very scary for an actor participating in a movie to sort of speak to issues like this. It’s far too intimidating the question for me to really address, I’m not informed enough. I want people to be safe and to be protected, and I want very much to live on the right of history. I’m an immigrant. My parents are refugees from Chile. We fled a dictatorship, and I was privileged enough to grow up in the U.S. after asylum in Denmark. If it weren’t for that, I don’t know what would have happened to us. I stand by those protections. I’m too afraid of your question, I hardly remember what it was.” 

His responses on fear may seem contradictory, at first, but if you listen closely, it's not out of fear for himself that he hedged around that immigration answer, but it's both out of appreciation for what America has given him AND out of fear of what will happen to his family if he does - particularly his parents, who have already faced  targeting and persecution under dictatorial leadership once before.

Because no one - even Pedro Pascal or his family - is safe from being targeted for deportation, though given legal asylum here, if Pedro were to openly condemn/protest the current immigration policy - and perhaps even less safe, they might make an public example out of him!

Sad state of affairs.

I completely understand why so many Latino countries like Cuba, Columbia, and Ecuador voted for Trump, fearing extreme-left communist regimes again  ...

... but at the same time, have they listened to the equally cautionary tales from other Latino countries like Chile, who had extreme  right-wing dictatorial leadership, who suffered a similar fate to communist countries?

So the lesson should be that dictatorial leadership and authoritarian  leadership destroys and kills - regardless of left or right politics.

Back to the movie itself - let's see what the controversy is come July!

"