Debapriya Bhattacharya
Helmed by Ari Aster, ‘Eddington’ is set in the titular small town of New Mexico in 2020, in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. In accordance with the CDC guidelines and the order of the Governor, Mayor Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal) implements a lockdown and mandates the wearing of face masks in public places. This does not sit well with the local sheriff, Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix), who sees this as an infringement on personal liberty. With Ted being up for reelection, Joe decides to run against him. While his emotionally unstable wife, Louise (Emma Stone), is not thrilled by the development and gets drawn toward radical cult leader Vernon Jefferson Peak (Austin Butler), Joe is backed by his conspiracy theorist mother-in-law, Dawn (Deirdre O’Connell). Amid the political tension and turmoil, an unforeseen danger creeps up on the town, marking a violent turn in the neo-western thriller. If you’ve enjoyed the film, here is a list of films similar to ‘Eddington’ that you can consider watching next.
10. Take Shelter (2011)
Written and directed by Jeff Nichols, ‘Take Shelter’ revolves around Curtis LaForche (Michael Shannon) of LaGrange, Ohio, who lives with his loving wife, Samantha (Jessica Chastain), and daughter, Hannah (Tova Stewart). Their blissful life is upended when Curtis begins to hallucinate about an apocalypse that lays waste to everything. He becomes paranoid as the visions start getting more frequent, and starts to remodel and refurbish a storm center in his backyard. With money being tight, Samantha becomes annoyed with her husband’s actions, and it puts a strain on their marriage. The delusion and paranoia that Curtis suffers are similar to what Joe Cross experiences following the mask mandate in ‘Eddington.’
9. The Killing of Two Lovers (2021)
‘The Killing of Two Lovers,’ directed by Robert Machoian, takes place in a rural town in Utah. David (Clayne Crawford) and Nikki (Sepideh Moafi) are a married couple who share four children and are going through a difficult separation. While they have both agreed to see other people, David finds it difficult to move on as Mikki gets in a relationship with her co-worker Derek (Chris Coy). The children are also not happy with how things are turning out for their parents, being unaware of the nuances of the new arrangement. David slowly becomes obsessed with his wife’s new relationship and veers towards attempting something rash and deadly, much like Joe Cross in ‘Eddington.’
8. The Devil All the Time (2020)
Adapted for the screen from Donald Ray Pollock’s novel of the same name, the Antonio Campos directorial ‘The Devil All the Time’ is set around rural southern Ohio and West Virginia in the couple of decades following World War II. Willard Russell (Bill Skarsgård), a war veteran suffering from PTSD, loses his wife Charlotte (Haley Bennett) to cancer. Following his death, his son Arvin Eugene Russell (Tom Holland) grows up as an orphan and is constantly shamed for his father’s actions. The region is in a state of unrest over a serial killer being at large, while the church goes under the control of Reverend Preston Teagardin (Robert Pattinson), whose intentions appear shady. The atmosphere of mistrust, corruption, and violence mirrors what is seen in ‘Eddington.’
7. Wind River (2017)
Directed by Taylor Sheridan, the story of ‘Wind River’ unfolds around the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming. Tracker Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner) from the US Fish and Wildlife Service department discovers the body of an 18-year-old who was later found to have been assaulted while alive. FBI agent Jane Banner (Elizabeth Olsen) is sent to the snow-covered region to investigate the case, and she picks out Cory as her partner. As the two begin to unravel the case, hidden secrets come close to being revealed, making them the target of involved parties and their mercenaries. The unrest that breaks out in the small town is reminiscent of ‘Eddington.’
6. A Simple Plan (1998)
Based on Scott B. Smith’s novel of the same name, the Sam Raimi directorial ‘A Simple Plan’ centers around Hank Mitchell (Bill Paxton), an upstanding man, his dim-witted brother Jacob (Billy Bob Thornton), and their friend Lou Chambers (Brent Briscoe), from Wright County, Minnesota. The trio discovers a crashed aircraft in the local woods, with a dead pilot and $4.4 million in cash. While they initially decide to split the fortune among themselves and proceed accordingly, soon mistrust seeps among them and results in deceit and deaths. Much like ‘Eddington,’ the narrative takes a violent turn in the peaceful region.
5. Out of the Furnace (2013)
Helmed by Scott Cooper, ‘Out of the Furnace’ follows Russell Baze (Christian Bale), a steelworker based in North Braddock, Pennsylvania, who lives with his brother Rodney (Casey Affleck), a four-tour Iraq war veteran. The latter has a significant financial debt, and as they keep piling up, he turns to participating in and fixing illegal prize fights. Soon, Rodney comes into the crosshairs of crime lord Harlan DeGroat (Woody Harrelson) and disappears. leading to Russell going scorched earth to find his brother. The brutal scenes played across the small rural town mirror the plot of ‘Eddington.’
4. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,’ written and directed by Martin McDonagh, revolves around the unsolved murder of a young girl, whose mother, Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand), decides to publicly call out the local police over their incompetence. Renting three billboards on the road leading to the town, she puts up three billboards, each containing a scathing remark aimed at Chief of Police Bill Willoughby (Woody Harrelson). This infuriates Bill’s second-in-command, the alcoholic officer Jason Dixon (Sam Rockwell), and the fight between the woman and the police heats up further. Similar to ‘Eddington,’ the peace of the small town is destroyed by the people losing control over themselves.
3. No Country for Old Men (2007)
Adapted by the brothers Joel and Ethan Coen from Cormac McCarthy’s novel of the same name, ‘No Country for Old Men’ is set in the aftermath of a drug deal going horribly wrong in the desert. When Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) arrives at the site while out hunting, he discovers a briefcase containing $2 million surrounded by dead men. Bringing the money home with him, he goes on the run while being pursued by a heartless hitman, Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem). At the same time, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) goes after Moss to prevent anything unfortunate. The carnage that follows brings to mind what unfolds with lawmen and the outlaws in ‘Eddington.’
2. Blue Ruin (2014)
Directed by Jeremy Saulnier, ‘Blue Ruin’ centers around Dwight Evans (Macon Blair), a vagrant living out of his car in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. His parents were murdered a decade ago, and he has a sister with whom he is no longer in touch. When Dwight hears about his parents’ killer, Wade Cleland (Sandy Barnett), being released from prison, he returns to his hometown in Virginia for brutal revenge. However, he fails to make a quick getaway and gets the killer’s family on his tail. The brutal cycle of hatred and bloodlust in the film reflects the similar themes in ‘Eddington.’
1. Winter’s Bone (2010)
Adapted from Daniel Woodrell’s eponymous novel by Debra Granik, ‘Winter’s Bone’ follows Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence), a teenager living in a rural community in the Ozarks, Missouri, with her two younger siblings and their disabled mother. When the local sheriff informs her that her father has mortgaged their house and disappeared, Ree sets out to look for him to prevent her family from losing their home. In her desperation, she breaks the code of silence in their community and puts herself and those around her in further danger. From the quaint setting to the brutal outcomes, the film often mirrors the narrative of ‘Eddington.’
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