Noah Baumbach’s ‘White Noise’ lives up to exhilaration of ‘unfilmable’ novel
To support student journalism and the content you love, become a member of The Daily Orange today.
When Don DeLillo’s novel “White Noise” was published in January of 1985, it received widespread critical acclaim. It won the U.S. National Book Award for fiction that year, was added to Time Magazine’s list of best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005 and has since become a cult classic that put DeLillo’s work on the map.
After the North American premiere at the 60th New York Film Festival, “White Noise” not only captured the true spirit of DeLillo’s novel, but it exceeded my expectations as a film with enough thrills, laughs and exhilaration to keep me on the edge of my seat.
The book had long since been deemed as unfilmable.With a severe view on death, religion, and consumer culture, “White Noise” is one of those singular postmodern reads that hypnotizes a reader from start to finish, enticing discussions on what the book is supposed to mean or make you feel.
For more than thirty years, the book has been passed around by multiple studios with the end result never seeing the light of day. That was the case until Noah Baumbach, the writer and director of films such as 2012’s “Frances Ha” and 2019’s “Marriage Story,” signed on to adapt the film in September 2020. Soon after, it was revealed that Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig would be cast as the two leading roles in the picture.
While it sounded way too good to be true, film fans were as excited as they were scared for the film’s end result. Would it live up to the novel? Is the novel really unfilmable?
“White Noise” follows the strange events in the life of Jack Gladney, a college professor in the fictionalized suburban town of Blacksmith. He teaches Hitler studies at the College-on-the-Hill, where he’s considered to be a pioneer for his unorthodox philosophies.
He’s the husband to Babette and father or stepfather to four kids: Denise, Heinrich, Steffie and Wilder. When a chemical spill from a locomotive emits clouds of toxic smoke throughout the town, Jack must confront the thought of death and help his family navigate the oddity of life itself.
It’s a light-hearted spectacle that uses bright colors and fast-paced cinematography to shadow the underlying darkness in the film’s messages. The film uses dry humor to discuss its theme of death and how one must take ownership of their own mortality. Nowadays, with a generation surrounded by a pandemic and political turmoil, existentialism is at an all time high. “White Noise” feels like a relevant piece of work that deals with today’s social corruption.
Although there’s very little plot and character development — just like its original source material — “White Noise” is able to achieve its ambitious goal of making the novel into a cohesive and understandable film. While reading the book beforehand would help understand the story a bit more, it won’t be a complete turnoff if someone hasn’t read it.
“White Noise” contains two great performances by Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig, who play Jack and Babette with a level of enthusiasm and care that would make Don DeLillo extremely proud.
But it’s the performances of the kids, played by Raffey Cassidy, Sam Nivola, and May Nivola, that not only steal the show but also make “White Noise” a picture that’s comparable to the science fiction films of the 1980s. Their intelligence and charisma in the movie provide a level of humanity that would be hard to find if they were given less screen time.
Don Cheadle, who plays Murray, another professor in the College-on-the-Hill who is close with Jack, gives a great, off-beat performance as a strange man who creates theories to explain everything. Another highlight in the film is the incredible musical score by Danny Elfman, who gives “White Noise” its bold and epic feel.
Baumbach’s adaptation is different from what I thought it’d be. It’s quick-witted, thrilling and funny — the perfect hybrid between an 1980s Steven Spielberg picture and a Brian DePalma horror film. With a departure from his simple lighthearted comedies, Noah Baumbach is clearly able to make a picture that packs a bigger punch and incorporate action sequences and musical numbers that almost feel like a total comfort zone for the filmmaker.
The dialogue in the film is verbatim to that of the novel, using DeLillo’s strange discourse in a near perfect way. Along with Jess Gonchor’s amazing production design, you truly feel submerged into the town of Blacksmith, taken in by the peculiar and bizarre nature of the characters’ surroundings.
With a book that was deemed “unfilmable,” Noah Baumbach denies the notion and creates what I think is a true gem of 2022 cinema. It’s both funny and horrifying, and being almost 40 years from its release date, “White Noise” feels more relevant today than ever before.
