Paul Haggis’ Crash (2004) is a shallow film; its characters nothing more than reductive racial tropes colliding into and screaming epithets at one another. Somehow, the film defied the odds and beat out the heavily favored Brokeback Mountain to win the Oscar for Best Picture.

The director’s polarizing new film comes after the commercial failure of ‘Beau Is Afraid.’ He’s not not worried.

The director’s latest is a none-too-subtle depiction of Covid hysteria, racial justice protests, isolation, and the rottenness of social media—and how they combine to rip apart the fabric of a small town.