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.

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

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