White Noise

“White Noise” isn’t a bad movie, but it’s not great either. And while I prefer odd and quirky movies over one that’s too serious any day, I can’t shake the feeling that Noah Baumbach tried a little too hard to make a film that feels different; to me, it feels borderline self-indulgent.

Interestingly, the trailer shows only scenes from the second act, the “airborne toxic event,” which is the strongest part of the film. Following a freak train accident, a great panic ensues once the toxic cloud reaches town. Families are scrambling to get their things together to escape the poisonous threat. The authorities aren’t prepared, treating the issue as an emergency drill, while looking for an effective emergency response. Some are worried about getting sick, others are frantically following the news. And then, as if nothing happened, the family is back at home, living their lives, not a single word about the previous live-threatening and -upending crisis. It sounds all very familiar when you look back at the last three years. In a time of crisis humans are more susceptible to group-think and conspiracies. Depicting the absurdity of it all is the one thing “White Noise” does really well.