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Noah Baumbach

White Noise – Noah Baumbach (2022)

The name of Baumbach does not immediately ring bells, but I reviewed two hof his films before. “White Noise” is again a ‘somewhat different’ kind of film. Just as in “Marriage Story“, Adam Driver is in it.

“White Noise” is an amusing, absurd comedy. Driver is a professor on Hitler on some prestigious university. A colleague of his teaches Elvis. When this is not enough of a clue that the story should not be taken entirely seriously, the people in the film constantly bombard each other with intelligent dialogues and strange ‘mundanities’.

Then a truck with chemicals collides with a train with chemicals, resulting in a toxic cloud that floats towards the little town where Jack’s family lives. Initially trying to stay cool, panic takes over and the whole town flees to another town to take shelter. How harmful for everyone were these events exactly?

Then the film switches to an entirely different subject. Jack’s wife is afraid of death and is treated for her condition in quite an unusual way. This brings the film another odd turn.

Indeed, do not expect an easy coherent story, rather just let the absurdity and intellectual humor pass by. I actually quite enjoyed this film.

Marriage Story – Noah Baumbach (2019)

  • drama

So on Netflix I saw a friendly looking Adam “Kylo Ren” Driver and when I clicked on movie info, the names Scarlett Johansson and Laura Dern appeared as well. I added it to my list for when I wanted to watch something different. I expected “Marriage Story” to be some sort of romantic comedy. Not my genre at all. but I have to think out of the box every now and then do I not?

Driver (Charlie) and Johansson (Nicole) are married. He is a director of plays, she an actor, working at the same productions. The film starts with Nicole having second thoughts about the marriage and making plans to end it. Charlie does not see it coming and is confronted with a situation he never wanted to be in. Both want to separate as friends, but different expectations do not make things easy. When the legal part of the separation sets in, things get nasty.

Johansson reminds me a bit of Frances McDormand, her character is somewhat goofy. I do not think I saw many films with Driver, but he appears to be a good actor. As expected, “Marriage Story” is not my kind of film though. It is dramatic, pretty much probably shows the situation of many in real life. There is an alright sense of humour in the film and Laura Dern is great to watch, but overall I would not have minded not having seen the film.

The Meyerowitz Stories – Noah Baumbach (2017)

  • drama

The Meyerowitz family is a family of artists living in New York. The pater familias is Harold, a great part of Dustin Hoffman. Harold was a relatively big artist a few decades in the past and he used to teach at the prestigious Bard College.

Adam Sandler plays Danny who used to be a pianist, but his star fell and his life is not going exactly as he wanted. His daughter is going to Bard too though.

Then there is the successful brother Brian he found his fortune outside art and we have a somewhat neurotic sister Jean. Actually, there are not exactly all brothers and sisters since Harold has had four wives.

Harold thinks he is quite a big shot and the lives of pretty much the entire extended family circulates around his. In lengthy monologues Harold continuously spews his ideas of society, life and of course the world of art. Sandler’s plays the neurot trying to get his own life straight, but also that of his family. A few events in Harold’s life brings the whole family together, or not.

“The Meyerowitz Stories” is an amusing film, mostly a drama, but an entertaining one with weird dialogues, strange situations and a critical view on the subject matter.