White Noise

Grade: B

White Noise is a perfect title for this new movie, adapted from a book by Don DeLillo, which dropped on Netflix today. There sure is an abundance of it. Characters talk over each other with dialogue either mundane or pretentiously philosophical. Director Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story, The Squid and the Whale) once again tackles discord in the marriage and family. A typical line in the film is “Your wife’s hair is a living wonder. She has important hair. A woman like that doesn’t just happen.” The cinematography is unrealistic, but lovely to look at and is among my favorite of the year. There are so many noirish colors, that I sometimes felt like I was watching Dick Tracy or Nightmare Alley. This is one of those films that will make you ask the question “Is the whole movie going to be like this?” The answer ends up being yes and no.

It’s split up into three chapters – the first (Waves and Radiation) being my least favorite. Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig star as Jack and Babette. They are each on their fourth marriage, with a child of their own, and at least one each from their previous relationships. This is where the avant-garde aspect becomes almost insufferable, and I was ready to ding it for being a lot of cinematic symphonic smoke and mirrors without a solid foundation of a narrative to back it up and earn it. It contains a few funny lines – the kind that might give a lazy movie critic the urge to quote some, like the ones that come from the perpetually confused voice over the A&P’s PA system. “Cheerio spill on aisle 5. No, wait, sorry – Cheerio spill on aisle 4. Oh, no, wait a minute. It’s Lucky Charms.” Or “Disregard that last page. No, wait, never mind. Regard it.”

It does get better in the second chapter (The Airborne Toxic Event). Symptoms of prolonged exposure to the air include heart palpitations and déjà vu. Symptoms of prolonged exposure to the air include heart palpitations and déjà vu. I don’t know what draws Driver to these kinds of weird, daring projects (remember Annette from last year?), but he is not afraid to dive into the rabbit hole and commit. A scene ends with him commanding someone to “shut the window.” It’s a perfect delivery, as I heard the first two words and I thought he was going with the old familiar suggestion.

The third chapter (Dylarama) contains a scene where Jack and Babette finally level with each other and tell the truth about everything. The way they react is inspirational, and might be something to remember if any of us are in that situation. It concludes on a note of hope and forgiveness, with a showdown where nothing happens the way you think it might, and this is where the sharpness of the screenplay pokes its head out of the groundhog hole.

The last sequence, that plays over the credits, is definitely bizarre. It ends in a final shot that lingers long enough for you to inspect every part of the frame, and there is a lot to watch. Though there is much of it in the movie, it turns out not everything is a bunch of…see the title.

Grade: B