Eddington is, I think, less about political axe grinding, or even point making, and more about what it feels like to have all the noise of the world descend upon you at once. It is essentially a horror-comedy about the whole of the internet arriving in a small town seemingly in a single day.

Eddington, the latest film from Hereditary director Ari Aster, is a dark comedy about COVID-fueled chaos in a fictional New Mexico town. The film wades into hot-button topics regarding police brutality, the Black Lives Matter movement, AI investment, and mask mandates, among others. Ari Aster is asking for trouble with Eddington.

In this desert setting, with characters both buffoonish and evil at once, there’s a distinctly Coen brothers slant to “Eddington.”