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.

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, N.M. — Past a petrified mastodon skull and display cases of glittering gypsum and halite, Ari Aster is gesturing to a room where, conjuring a bit of movie magic, he made Joaquin Phoenix fall through a roof, onto the bones of Geronimo.

Ari Aster's “Eddington,” appropriately enough, has been divisive. Since its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May, Aster’s film has one of the most polarizing releases of the year.