Noah Baumbach’s adaptation, of Don DeLillo’s 1985 book of the same name, is an absurdist joyride through the American dream.
DeLillo‘s book, described as a cornerstone of postmodern literature, has been translated into a film that is both self-aware and ironic.
The most obvious example is in the stylised dialogue, an anxious stream of consciousness that brings on and exasperates feelings of distance and isolation. Everyone talks but no one listens. So when professor of Hitler studies Jack (Adam Driver), and his wife Babette (Greta Gerwig), are forced to take their children and flee an “airborne toxic event”, fears of death become physically and emotionally all consuming, especially for Babette. Watch with expectations and you’ll be disappointed. Watch without and you’ll be intrigued.
The end title are joy with an original track, New Body Rumba, by LCD Soundsystem, who apparently “reunited to record their first new music in over five years for the film”.
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