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.

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.

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.