Louder Than Bombs (2016) - Joachim Trier

Joachim Trier's Louder Than Bombs is an emotionally raw study of one families attempt to overcome tragedy, their struggle with grief, and how during times of great emotional stress, clear communication and expressing personal sentiment can become increasingly difficult.  Focusing on the lives of a father and his two sons as they grapple with the untimely death of their respective mother/wife Isabelle, a noted war photographer, Louder Than Bombs is an uneven exploration of grief, using these three characters, each of which still grapple with Isabelle's death, to express the importance of communication and the severe pain that comes with letting go/moving on.  Since Isabelle's death, Gene, the patriarch of the household, has been struggling to maintain a consistent relationship with his youngest teenage son Conrad, who is constantly in introspection, hiding in his video games and personal solitude as he attempts to make sense of the loss of his mother.  Jonah, the eldest son, has just arrived to the family home, taking a leave from married life and academia to help organize his mother's archive of photography, which soon will the presented at a New York exhibition honoring his mother's work.  Featuring Joachim Trier's sharp narrative focus, Louder Than Bombs is a fascinating, albeit flawed film, which effortlessly blends past and present, as it attempts to piece together the struggles of these three characters, each of which has failed to express their personal pain from Isabel's loss in any constructive light.  Louder Than Bombs stresses the importance of fully-developed characterizations over narrative pacing, with Trier being a filmmaker that understands the importance of letting his characters shape the story, not vice versa.  The screenplay seamlessly shifts from perspective to perspective, attempting to unveil how grief and loss have effected the psyches of its three main characters, each of which struggles to deal with and express their emotions.  There is a lot to like in Louder Than Bombs as the film offers lots of fascinating insights about grief, communication, love and loss, as well as some powerful and transfixing meditative moments, but i'd argue that some of the film feels painfully overly dramatized, specifically the plight of Conrad, the youngest son who struggles mightily to make sense of his mother's death.  Conrad is a character in a lot of pain but while the film surely expresses the confusion and unique perspective of this loner character, his actions at times feel forced, particularly in his actions towards his father.  I'd argue that Conrad's emotional outbursts and general angst are actions that more aid the characterization of Gene, his father, a character who struggles to share the truth about Isabelle's death with his youngest son.  Gene's lack of communication, his inability to express these details and talk about his emotions with his son lead to Conrad's behavior, but the way Conrad behaves seem to serve the characterization of Gene's guilt and perceived failure as a father and husband more than his own internal struggle, making this young boy a character that is hard to be empathetic towards due to his angst never being meticulously defined outside of the obvious.  Louder than Bombs attempts to make a connection between Conrad's internal issues and the deep-seeded fragmentation of family but it simply doesn't always work, as the character comes off a little too much like an impudent child, and not enough like a child struggling to deal with his mother's death.  I'd actually argue that one of the best characterizations of the entire film is Isabel, a character who shapes much of the story due to her death, but who also shapes the thematic lynchpins of the film, being a character who herself struggled to communicate with her husband.  Isabel is a character stuck between two worlds, her personal life back in the states and her life as a war photographer.  She is a character who suffers from a feeling of detachment from her family due to her profession, which sees her traveling all over the world in an effort to document conflict.  The emotional effect of her profession, the toll it takes, is what leaves Isabelle struggling to express herself to Gene, a lack of communication that plagues this family even after her death.  One of the more interesting aspects of Louder Than Bombs is how it captures the profound and powerful effect of death, not only in it study of these three family members but also in Isabelle, whose psyche becomes increasingly unstable and fractured due to the weight of death and conflict she saw through her profession.  The film almost seems to capture the trickle-down effect such depression and despair can have, as Isabelle took her own life due to the pain that in turn led to more pain for Gene, Noah, and Conrad.  Due to well-crafted filmmaking and a compelling narrative that seamlessly shifts between perspectives of its characters, Joachim Trier's Louder Than Bombs is a film that despite its flaws is always fascinating, touching on the importance of communication but also the importance of pushing on through times of grief and despair, soldiering forward so to speak, and not letting loss and the darker aspects of this world consume you.

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