Ari Aster's new movie "Eddington," a neo-western, arose out of anxieties he was feeling during the COVID lockdown. He thinks truth and democracy are unraveling.

CANNES, France (AP) — 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.