he black comedy follows Jack , a mild-mannered professor type who makes his academic name off of a Hitler studies class he teaches at a liberal arts college in the Midwest. As Jack and his wife Babette navigate the ins and outs of family like with their brood of four, the menacing prospect of an “airborne toxic event” looms large. Eventually, Jack, Babette and their family must let go of domestic problems and come together to face a greater, more unruly threat.
Venice director Alberto Barbera made the announcement, calling it a “great honor” to open the festival with, which he called “an original, ambitious and compelling piece of art which plays with measure on multiple registers: dramatic, ironic, satirical.”“The result is a film that examines our obsessions, doubts and fears as captured in the 1980s, yet with very clear references to contemporary reality,” Barbera concluded.
DeLillo’s original novel serves as a grating critique of the illusion of academia and the Ivory Tower, the nuclear family and how technology controls the two— heavy material made light by his whip-smart tone. The book makes makes more than suitable material for the off-beat Baumbach, who favors complex and imperfect characters, tortured artist types with a penchant for intellectual narcissism.
Source: Entertainment Trends (entertainmenttrends.net)