Noah Baumbach’s “White Noise”

White Noise (2022)

Don DeLillo by way of Spielberg before straying into darkness in this absurdist look at modern American culture

At the core of the film is Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig’s performances as the couple at the head of a family which is an aggregation of three children from their previous marriages and their offspring, Wilder. Jack Gladney(Driver) is a professor of “Hitler studies” and despite speaking no German is considered to be among if not the authority on the subject in America. Babette Gladney(Gerwig) is taking a mysterious drug and between the two of them, they share a fear of death with each handling this in disparate ways. One of Jack’s university colleagues, Murray Siskind(Don Cheadle) is hoping to do for Elvis what Jack has managed to do for Hitler which leads to a glorious juxtaposition of talks on the fuhrer and king.

The film is structured in three acts with the first two feeling very much like Spielberg with a pinch of Wes Andersen (not surprising as Baumbach has a writing credit on “The Life Aquatic of Steve Zissou” and “The Fantastic Mr Fox”) before descending into a third act which becomes something in and of itself much like Boots Riley’s finale to “Sorry to Bother You” but not quite as successful.

Considering the source material falls into the category of books seen as being “unfilmable”, Baumbach manages to create something that feels coherent. That said, some will find its more absurdist nature grating. If the style which Wes Andersen has settled into annoys, this might not suit.

Mark Kermode took a dim view of the out-of-context dance routine which is a surprising point to make considering this occurs in the end-credits after the film has concluded. I can’t help but wonder if the juxtaposition of Elvis and Hilter didn’t rankle given his devotion to Presley? I only question this as a vast majority of the time, our opinions align so when there’s a divergence, it’s always interesting to surmise the reasoning. As an alternative, there might be something in the deeply American cultural landscape of the film that might be hard to grasp for those not raised in that context.

Overall, I found it an entertaining if sometimes uneven experience held together by solid performances.