REVIEW: WHITE NOISE

3.5/5

It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Funny).

136 Mins. Starring: Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig, Raffey Cassidy, Sam Nivola, May Nivola, Jodie Turner-Smith, André Benjamin, Bill Camp & Don Cheadle. Director: Noah Baumbach. 

The arc of Noah Baumbach's talent blends the absurdity of regular life with end of the world (or ours as we know it) scenarios to an outstanding, offbeat effect. But it's not all just 'White Noise' streaming on Netflix right now. 'The Pale Blue Eyes' of Christian Bale befriending great American writer Edgar Allan Poe for a murder mystery. Rian Johnson's 'Glass Onion' with Daniel Craig's Benoit Blanc for the latest 'Knives Out Mystery'. And that's just that service. There's a 'Menu' menagerie of dark and delightful movies to intrigue this Academy season. All the way to 'The Banshees Of Inisherin'. Baumbach is also no stranger to all this. After 'The Squid and the Whale' envelope pushing and snapping director hit a new Netflix deal with 'The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)', folded paper opened up for him as the Oscars underscored his 'Marriage Story' with Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver. 

Reuniting again with a receding, but paunched (stomach, "I got you" meme), chameleonic Driver. Co-starring great director Greta Gerwig (the 'Little Women' redefining auteur director about to change the game again with Margot Robbie's 'Barbie' and Ryan Gosling's Ken) with a can of 80s hairspray and a reminder that like fellow best director of our generation Olivia Wilde, it's so great to see this '20th Century Woman' act again. 'Stranger Things' are happening in the Tide of this nostalgic sweep through a supermarket of a local town in the Midwest consumed in the dream of Americana. From something in the clouds scarier than what Will Byers saw in the Upside Down. To a curtain calling dance number down the aisles to LCD Soundsystem's 'New Body Rhumba'. 

A classic moment like many in this disjointed but dynamic movie. Finally, forging ahead with the adaptation of Don DeLillo's 1985 novel of the same name, previously deemed unfilmable. But I digress. From an "airborne toxic event" (sound familiar?), all the way down to a great debate between Adam's professor of Hitler studies and a best in years Don Cheadle (and we love this War Machine and didn't forget 'Miles Ahead') waxing lyrical on the same King Baz Luhrmann, Austin Butler and Tom Hanks' Colonel did. There's pointed nods towards our current COVID state of emergencies as these characters mask up against those US conspiracies (although Bill Camp's cameo is more than classic in theory, let me take a sip of my drink). Not to mention a Chevy wagon stationary in a bed of water that feels like something chased out of a National Lampoon movie. It meant "bear right" like Dwight said. 

Adam drives home an incredible, nuanced performance all the way to awards season. As does Gerwig staking her claim back in the acting game. One moment of heartbreaking intimacy is as inspired as it is as real as it gets. Along with the aforementioned Cheadle and Camp, Peterborough's own Jodie Turner-Smith scene steals 'After Yang' and the 'Queen and Slim' career coming out party. Whilst an Outkast in André Benjamin also finds a home and the best dance down the aisle with cookies since he shook it like a Polaroid picture. Hey Ya! Yet for all the big stars here in this muddled, but mesmerizing movie that pays tribute to so many tonal tropes of classic cinema from the canon with outstanding originality, it's the kids that make the most sense. Making more meaning out of all these debates of high intellect in this art piece. 'Tomorrowland' and 'The Killing Of A Sacred Deer' star Raffey Cassidy has already claimed her place, but she owns it here. Yet the real stars of the future are the whip-smart Sam and May Nivola. What more could you expect with parents like Emily Mortimer and Alessandro Nivola? Amongst all the 'White Noise', Noah Baumbach gives us a family story for the ages. It may be the end of the world, but at least we have each other. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Further Filming: 'Marriage Story', 'The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)', 'The Squid and the Whale'.