By John Corrado

A24 has released the first teaser trailer for writer-director Ari Aster’s Eddington. This is the latest film from Aster, following his acclaimed horror films Hereditary and Midsommar and the highly divisive “nightmare comedy” Beau is Afraid in 2023. This one finds Aster re-teaming with Beau star Joaquin Phoenix, and is described as a modern Western, set during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Phoenix is a sheriff in Eddington, New Mexico, who is engaged in a standoff with the mayor (Pedro Pascal). The brief teaser features Phoenix’s character scrolling through social media, and includes a number of real world allegories, hinting at a conspiracy-driven plot. I’m intrigued to see more. Emma Stone, Austin Butler and Luke Grimes also star.

The film, which VVS Films is distributing the film in Canada, opens in theatres on July 18th. It will be premiering in competition at Cannes next month first. The teaser trailer is embedded below, feel free to comment your thoughts after watching it.