Critics seem to be split on Ron Howard’s “Eden,” which, I’m not kidding, is the filmmaker’s bleakest and darkest film to date. In his positive review for Vulture, Bilge Ebiri says, “Howard has finally lost his mind.” Howard has finally turned to the dark side.
Yet not all critics are onboard “Eden.” The Guardian, Screen, Entertainment Weekly, and Collider did not like it at all. The whole point of “Eden” is to entertain its audience, in pulpy fashion, and it does the job in that regard. It’s a down and dirty B-movie filled with lots of violence, dark humor and a deliciously villainous turn from Ana de Armas.
At least some people get it. The Wrap, IndieWire, and New York Post are pro-“Eden”, acknowledging the camp and how thoroughly entertaining the whole thing turns out to be.
Howard and screenwriter Noah Pink set their film in 1930’s Floreana, a then-uninhabited island in the Galapagos. During the start of Hitler’s rise to power, a German couple, Dr. Friedrich Ritter (Jude Law) and his wife Dora (Vanessa Kirby), escape from the chaos, abandon civilization and permanently settle down on the island.
Word soon spreads of the mysterious Ritter in European newspapers, and that leads to Heinz Wittmer (Daniel Brühl), young bride Margaret (Sydney Sweeney) and their son Harry (Jonathan Tittel) arriving on the island; They too want to escape the fascism building up in their country.
“Eden” is driven by great talent; De Armas, a total scene stealer, might be best in show as the repulsive, manipulating and spoiled baroness who, with the help of her two male servants, attempts to take over the island by trying to turn it into a vacation hotspot. This rubs Wittmer and Ritter the wrong way, and together they plot to get rid of her.
Alliances get forged, sex partners get swapped, and severe threats get dished out. Everybody hates everybody. Howard depicts the worst of humanity in “Eden,” which, at times, reminded me of an episode of “Survivor,” only set in the ‘30s. It’s even more surprising to learn that the film is actually based on a true story.
Regardless, it’s great to see Howard embracing pitch black drama with a violent, pulpy film that defies anything he’s done before. “Eden” currently has no U.S. distributor, and it’s a film that would play like gangbusters for a streaming audience. Don’t be surprised if Netflix or Amazon picks this one up.