Set in the pandemic’s early days, the noted horror director’s Covid comedy satirizes the national mood during lockdown. Reactions have been polarizing.

CANNES, France — Ari Aster's COVID-era Western “Eddington,” about a 2020 America quickly losing its mind to conspiracy theories, TikTok and political extremism, premiered to a mixed reception at the Cannes Film Festival.

It's no surprise that "Eddington," the provocative new film from writer and director Ari Aster, has brought about a wide range of varied reactions following its Friday night premiere in Cannes, because the director says that the film itself is about the different realities we are living in and how far apart people are even when living right next to each other.