For such an aesthetically driven director, Aronofsky’s typical stylish direction is almost totally absent. When you don’t have rock giants (that look an awful lot like Infernals from World of Warcraft), sprouting CGI forests, or surging waters, the images are boring. The photography has seemingly little visual design. Compositions and lighting have the same bland moodlessness of a Marvel movie, far removed from Black Swan’s master class of visual ingenuity. Studios demand a certain look for their movies, so it’s a gift any of his trademark technique remains. When the film is at its most outlandish and hooky, Aronofsky relies on the realism of his signature handheld camera to make the unreal real. One highlight is a midnight trek through a hellish town of flame, violence, and jagged black metal captured frighteningly with a handheld camera. Imagine a documentary feel walking through the pits of Isengard in The Lord of the Rings. It’s a harrowing sequence and one of the film’s best. In contrast, Aronofsky doesn’t seem to know how to film huge effects shots. Almost all of the movie’s big effects sequences include aerial shots sweeping around the action in a 360 degree view, with relatively little variation on the formula. He’s clearly new to having a big budget, and one would expect more innovation in form from a director of this caliber.





Lack of variation or not, these scenes are often spectacular, especially the 45 minute section leading up to the midpoint that’s as spellbinding as anything I’ve seen in years. Also outstanding are the time-lapse sequences that show a flurry of movement and creation in seconds. The effects are occasionally wonky, but often great. Effects giant Industrial Light and Magic even bragged some shots were the most demanding they’ve ever delivered. The production design depicts a world outside of time, somehow in our past, present, and future all at once. The ark’s design is robust and practical, and seeing it overwhelmed with crashing water as a malevolent army descends is as rousing as anything you’ll see this year. If that makes Noah sound like a blockbuster, don’t be fooled. Despite its budget, this is Aronofsky’s strangest film since his debut, Pi, a Lynchian thriller where a mathematical genius tries to understand all of existence through numbers whilst being chased by Hasidic Jews. I recommend it.





Noah is jam-packed with strange choices, and it constantly takes unexpected directions that may leave less seasoned audiences puzzled and angry. The design, story, performances, and general direction are all deliberately challenging, and I must admit they have an alienating effect. Noah is unlike anything you or I ever seen, and two voices emerged as I watched. One is of admiration and love, for both the film and its fearless maker. The other is the cynical exclamation that there’s a reason these choices have been avoided in the past. Those two voices become so intertwined I stop being able to tell what worked for me and what didn’t, since Noah is a work so cohesive that you pull one piece a way and the whole puzzle is foggy. But, despite several missteps, Noah has enormous value for anyone open to its eccentric indulgences, and the first thing I said as I left the theater was asking how a film like Noah got green lit. I meant it as a compliment.





B+



