While recently preparing for an interview with Joaquin Phoenix during the Los Angeles press day for his new 2025 movie Eddington, I took notice of a special aspect of his filmography. His latest film is his second time working with writer/director Ari Aster,

There are very few actors in Hollywood today as dedicated to their craft as Joaquin Phoenix. In heavy roles such as Commodus in Gladiator, the tortured Batman villain in Joker, and possibly the most anxious man alive in Beau Is Afraid,

Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal face off in "Eddington." Credit: A24 Comedy is tragedy plus time. There may be a day when critics look back on Ari Aster's COVID-19 comedy Eddington with kinder eyes.

Travis Hopsin of Punch Drunk Critics says the fear surrounding the pandemic, Black Lives Matter and the George Floyd protests that’s depicted in Eddington is “designed to enrage us,” but the most terrifying part of Ari Aster’s film is how accurate it is. The critic says:

Set in the fictional New Mexico town of Eddington, the narrative centers on a standoff between Sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix) and Mayor Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal), a hostility that bleeds into the community and sparks division, conspiracy theories ...