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.

The movie, set in a small New Mexico town where the local sheriff (Phoenix) decides to run against the COVID-conscious mayor (Pascal), received a muted response at its Friday night premiere.

His dark and provocative new film was written "in a state of fear and anxiety about the world," the director said at a Cannes press conference