This post contains major plot spoilers for Eddington .

The sheriff is Joe Cross, played by Joaquin Phoenix, who has long had a rivalry with Mayor Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal). Cross is now running for mayor and has said some damaging things about Garcia. At this moment, Cross arrives to address a noise complaint at a fund-raising party Garcia is throwing.

One of the final glimpses we see of Cross is at the grand opening of a data center, built right next to the paltry town of Eddington. Many theorize that the data center, the construction of which is opposed by some locals and indigenous people, was the real evil in the story.

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.

The writer and director Ari Aster narrates a sequence from his film featuring Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal.

What — beyond Aster’s evident desire to tweak both sides of the political spectrum — might be going on here? Look deeper and you’ll find the answer was hiding in plain sight. If Aster has a thesis in Eddington,

British actor Micheal Ward has been charged with rape and sexual assault, the Metropolitan Police Service confirmed in a news release on Friday. The Empire of Light and Eddington actor, 27, faces two counts of rape and three counts of sexual assault.

Ari Aster's "Eddington" uses COVID-19 as a jumping-off point. It's a painful, uncomfortable watch. With Emma Stone, Pedro Pascal and Joaquin Phoenix.