THE SOUND OF SILENCE

Noah Baumbach's latest film White Noise.

I like to think from time to time that I’m a Noah Baumbach fan. But as I looked through his filmography there’s only three pictures that he wrote & directed that I’ve seen in their entirety.

Squid & The Whale, which I still hold in high esteem even though it’s been years since I’ve seen it. Margot At The Wedding which I remember watching and enjoying, especially Jack Black and Jennifer Jason Leigh, (I’m sure Nicole Kidman was good in it too even though this came out around the time her face work started to become quite distracting). But honestly I kind of forgot it was Noah who directed it.

Then came Francis Ha and everyone’s discovery of the lovely star and co-writer of that picture, Greta Gerwig. We all then heard that they were a couple and later I saw her adorable Lady Bird like everyone that year (2017?) so I just kinda’ assumed that I’d seen all the work of both artists. Especially Noah’s work, right? There’s the one with Ben Stiller and the one with the Star Wars guy and Colin Jost’s wife. I saw those films, didn’t I?

Nope. Unless I’m having a senior moment. Either way I’ll have to go back and check those out. They look great! My point is that I thought I knew what kind of filmmaker Baumbach was. That was my expectation when I decided to spend a night watching White Noise on Netflix.

So I click on it and load the film into my living room projector. (Yes, I built a Covid screening room in my home. Don’t judge!) As I dim the lights I tell myself “I’m gonna’ get the full Noah film vibe, right!? Woody Allen without the perv history. New Yawker stuff! Modern day. No? Wait, what is this movie about?” What I see on the screen isn’t a sardonic, gritty Big Apple affair. It’s instead a college town art piece, precious and stylized. Is that new for Noah? It’s feeling more like a Wes Anderson film. Of course I knew that Noah had written some early films with Wes, didn’t I?

Nope 2! The sequel. What else didn’t I know? Well, after watching it, I finally do some research to learn more about Noah. I also finally check Rotten Tomatoes. How hated this film is! (66% critics and a terrible 33% audience rating. Yikes!). Even my wife hated it, along with my best movie-going buddy.

Bottom line is, I saw this film without any of the above knowledge. A truly fresh tomato. So what was my reaction to this film as I watched it, not knowing that I hadn’t seen as many Noah Baumbach films as I’d thought I’d seen or that almost everyone I knew and then some seemed to dislike this new Noah Baumbach film? Honestly? My first thought was “This is clearly Noah’s best film yet. A masterpiece!”

There it is. I loved it. No one else seems to. Maybe not even Noah himself. What’s that you ask? What’s it about? Oh!! Uh….hey Chat GPT. I’m kinda’ tired. (Writing is hard!) Can you write a synopsis of White Noise, the book from the 1980’s by Don Dellio (which of course this film was based on) but talk about it like it’s a movie even if you haven’t seen it. Cool? Thanks!

ChatGPT:
Sure. Here’s a synopsis of the book White Noise as if it was a movie. White Noise is a film about a college professor named Jack Gladney (Adam Driver) who is struggling to come to terms with his own mortality. The film follows Jack as he navigates the challenges of everyday life in a world that is constantly bombarded by electronic media and other forms of "white noise."

As Jack grapples with issues of death and the meaning of life, he is also drawn into a series of bizarre and unsettling events, including a chemical spill that unleashes a deadly toxic cloud known as the "Airborne Toxic Event". Later Jack has strange encounters with drug dealers, first responders and eventually some tough talking German nuns who try to convince Jack that fear of death is just a narcissistic delusion. (Ed. Note: Barney wrote most of this paragraph. Not ChatGPT. Can’t you feel the humanity?!!)

Meanwhile, Jack's wife, Babette, (Greta Gerwig) is struggling with her own demons, including a dependence on prescription drugs and an affair with a younger man. (Ed. Note: Uh….it’s much more complicated than that). Despite these issues, Jack and Babette remain devoted to one another, and together they navigate the complexities of their relationship as they strive to find meaning and purpose in their lives.

Well, Chat clearly didn’t see the movie any more than I saw The Meyerowitz Stories. There’s also all this stuff about Hitler & Elvis, as well as other characters like Jack’s co-worker at the college Prof. Murray Siskind (played by the always amazing Don Cheedle), plus all of Jack & Babette’s precocious kids (four of them). There’s a gun, and roadside car wrecks, Jack’s weird dreams and best of all people dancing in an A&P super market full of all the brands that I remember as a kid growing up in the 80’s.

In fact, the film has great 80’s styling without being too Stranger Things-y yet still paying the same homage to Speilberg classics like Close Encounters and ET (which I have actually seen!) without feeling too cheesy. In fact the movie is a feast for the eyes. The camera moves fluidly and the editing is fast cut but seamless. Pure flow.

The script shifts gears a lot. Covering infidelity, morality, cults of personality, the causes of human anxiety and panic etc., including some obvious nods to the crazy current times and the parallels between the 80’s and today in the early 21st century.

It really is unlike his other films. The ones I’ve seen at least. More like Wes Anderson. Perhaps some of the Wes films Noah actually worked on. Ha!

Take it from me and my pal Chat (I call ChatGPT just Chat for short). This film is worth seeing no matter what the algorithm or actual humans say. Even if you can’t remember it later, it’s a fun, thoughtful ride.

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