White Noise

Noah Baumbach directs his own adaptation of Don Delillo’s book. Adam Driver is Jack a professor in Hitler studies at the local college. His wife Babette (Greta Gerwig) is mum to their three children and runs classes for seniors. They spend their time dealing with the mundanity of life, trips to a beautifully colour coordinated supermarket and work. Life changes after a train crash which forces them to revaluate life and the impact of death.

For me White Noise is a very odd film, some of it works, some of it less so. It’s at its best during its second act when it moves from introspective look at life to part disaster movie part allegorical tale of an unseen threat that forces humanity to act in unusual ways.

There’s are also some interesting observations around stories and the subtle use of misinformation. As the title suggests a lot of this happens in the background a gentle hum of conversation and background chatter. There is also an entertaining final part to the film which includes German nuns and a supermarket scene that keeps in line with the oddity of all that preceded it.

I do enjoy a quirky film, however this often felt too quirky for its own good and not quite as clever as it thought it was, often disappearing into its own oddity.

That said Adam Drivers presence does hold it together and he gets good support from Don Cheadle. The film also looks great, recreating it’s 1980’s look with brown and yellow tones mixed with bright colours.

White Noise overall didn’t work for me, but was by no means terrible. In Adam Driver you always get a compelling lead and the second act works really well. But to often it feels muddled and a little too much hard work to stay engaged with. In the end as its name suggests it is that background noise that occasionally gets your attention.