White Noise Review
Noah Baumbach’s White Noise is surprisingly one of the most packed films of 2022. The director’s adaptation of Don DeLillo’s 1985 novel of the same name is part family drama, part disaster film, part mystery, part neo-noir thriller. The story is broken into three distinct sections that play like three separate films. Adam Driver stars as Jack Gladney, a renowned professor of “Hitler Studies” in a small Ohio town. Greta Gerwig plays Babette, Jack’s fourth wife. The pair together have four children.
The first act mostly centers around the family and how all the members go about their daily lives. You get the sense that Jack has quite the high opinion of himself, walking around school in teachers robes with quite an air about himself. Don Cheadle plays his colleague, who wants to develop an “Elvis Studies” program and the two constantly stroke one another’s ego. Greta Gerwig’s Babette is a bit shy and reserved but also has something off about her. She’s often forgetful and soon the film introduces a mystery about a medication called Dylar that she is secretly taking. The section is largely used as set up for the rest of the movie. It’s an interesting family and interesting world that Baumbach constructs. All you need to do is take one look at the grocery store scenes and you’re immediately hit with an array of bright and vibrant colors and unique imagery. It’s the initial hook needed to bring the audience in and care about what’s happening on screen.
As the family dynamics are being established, an event termed the “Airborne Toxic Event” from a chemical waste spill pushes us into the second act. The film quickly transforms into a disaster flick that resembles something reminiscent of Stephen Spielberg. A shot of eyes staring out of the car during the evacuation feels exactly as if he was behind the camera. Combined with the quirky world that Baumbach establishes, it becomes an amalgamation that reads as a collaboration between Spielberg and Wes Anderson. Although it drags a bit and feels repetitive going from one quarantine zone to another, it starts to become one of Baumbach’s more engaging projects.
As things get going and the family tries to escape, the story takes another shift and the disaster element suddenly vanishes. This is where the film becomes part mystery, part neo-noir thriller with imagery that sometimes feels almost Blade Runner esque. While it makes the entire piece feel somewhat disjointed, the set pieces, especially one in particular, are expertly crafted. It feels like the most bloated of the sections but also has some of the most memorable scenes. Baumbach effectively ties in and communicates all the major themes of the novel but fails to weave one, cohesive piece.
All these twist and turns make White Noise a movie that seems a bit all over the place. It plays more as a series of strung together vignettes as opposed to a carefully constructed story. It doesn’t make for the best movie yet does introduce a lot of different, interesting elements. Within the maze of all its themes and varying storylines, everyone is sure to resonate with at least a few scenes. Despite the negative reviews, if you have Netflix it’s absolutely worth the one of a kind experience that Baumbach’s constructs.
