WHITE NOISE

Architect John Rivers, married to Linda, a successful writer, lives a happy life until one day his wife's car is found near a cliff, but there is no trace of the woman; a few days later her body is found. John lives in grief for many months, but one morning he meets Raymond Price, a man able to communicate with the afterlife, who informs him that Linda had contacted him. Raymond, who years earlier had lost a son, thus introduces John to the study of EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon), a technique that allows, through the listening and recording of empty frequencies in electronic devices, to capture visual and auditory manifestations of the souls of the deceased. Initially skeptical, John begins to establish contact with the afterlife and with his wife, but there are also some spirits with hostile intentions. "White noise" is a classic example of how a bad movie can be made despite having a good cast, millions of dollars of budget and a great starting idea. The fascinating theme of EVP is rather original, even if the film, from the beginning, immediately places itself in "Sixth sense" territory; however, apart from questionable choices dictated by the impact with the box office law (to make a successful film you need to draw elements from other successful films), "White noise" has a good start and for about 40 minutes is interesting and well made. In fact, it immediately drags the viewer into safe territory: a beginning that shows the harmonious life of a (almost) perfect family, a harmony that the viewer knows will soon be broken; the mourning, the despair, the hope and the incursion into the paranormal. Until the moment of the first EVP experiments, with plenty of jump scenes, therefore, the film proceeds dignifiedly; then, suddenly and inexplicably, the story undergoes a brutal and unfortunate change: the protagonist goes around the city trying to save the lives of the people that his dead wife indicates as individuals in danger. These winks to "Final destination" and "Minority report" really clash and one cannot understand the reason for this choice, since the story could have easily continued as it had evolved up to that moment. But unfortunately the bad surprises do not end here because the screenplay continues to wobble and fills up with holes as big as chasms: we then plunge into the thriller and a mysterious serial killer also emerges; to conclude the mess with a confused and hurried ending, as well as with ridiculous appearances of ghosts in physical reality (the best way to stuff a thriller/horror with involuntary ridiculousness is to show a ghost, rendered as a semi-transparent figure, interacting with the actors!). The reason why an interesting film degenerates into garbage is as much of a mystery as the real existence of EVP phenomena; the ending then, so hurried and poorly edited, seems almost a consequence of clumsy cuts in the editing phase or exhaustion of the budget available before the conclusion of the shootings. Similar operations, in the recent past, had already been witnessed and with alternating results, sometimes with the intention of relaunching slightly declining stars (it happened to Kevin Costner with the terrible "Dragonfly" and to Richard Gere with the interesting "The mothman prophecies"), just as it happens to the protagonist of "White noise" Michael Keaton, a good actor who in recent years has appeared in few films but who does not convince in this film, often seeming out of place; just as out of place appears Deborah Kara Unger ("Crash"), who plays a totally useless character to the plot. Naturally, both the sets and the photography are very carefully and suggestively curated, being a film with a substantial budget; while totally anonymous is the direction of the unknown Geoffrey Sax. In conclusion, "White noise" is nothing more than a good idea poorly developed, due to a disastrous screenplay, an uninspired direction and actors out of place. Highly discouraged.