White Noise

 White Noise is the Netflix adaptation of the postmodern, US National Book Award winning novel of the same name by Don DeLillo.  Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig, and Don Cheadle share top billing.

Now, with a pedigree like that, you expect a movie to be a little stiffer than the norm, and less concerned with entertainment than with making a point about the human condition. Weekend at Bernie's this ain't. 

That said, I think it still made a good effort to keep the viewer, if not happy, than at least willing to stick around for the ride. 

Jack and Babette are a married couple in charge of a large blended family - he is on his 5th marriage, and she is not far behind - and while they are madly in love, both with each other and their children, death is constantly on their minds. They worry about it. They fear it. They talk about it.  They avoid talking about it. And so on. 

When a train accident creates an "airborne toxic event" in their sleepy little college town, the family hits the road to flee, and begin to confront their fears, not altogether successfully. 

The movie is told in three narrative blocks: the lead up to the train accident, the escape from the "event", and a 3rd block devoted to a jarring departure from the first 3/4ths of the movie. 

The acting was top notch, right down to the child actors playing the kids. I enjoyed the movie (my last of 2022) but it is, undoubtedly, an acquired taste and not for everyone.  I'd grade it a C+.

* * * 

In closing I pause to express an irrational complaint I have about the film:

It is set in the mid-1980's a fact that is contextually established by the clothing, music, cars, and product packaging. Maybe it won't be enough to identify the era if you're watching it from the year 2345, but it should be more than enough clues for decades to come. 

Yet, for a film that tries to immerse itself in the subtlety of human thoughts and fears, they hammer the setting home with an  obvious, out of sync bit of dialogue that was jarringly out of the blue [my apologies if this isn't verbatim]:

"I can't believe how long its been. I started the program in 1968, and here it is, sixteen years later!"

Groan.