gnomic

At once modern and classical, gnomic yet instantly clear, Haring’s work distilled the Pop Art of the previous decades and Neo-Expressionism of the 1980s, wrapping in uptown graffiti movements into a genderless, raceless utopia — a basic but expansive vision of human equality.

A cursor is visible moving across the screen, highlighting the text as the gnomic A.I. interpreter works its way through; at times it feels as if we are sitting in on a willfully dull karaoke session.

The movie does signal its darkly comedic aims from the moment we first see the actor’s gnomic man-child frown, which by now is a ready signifier of emotional and psychological deficiency.

“Cool can branding — my boy Klaus!” said one squadster, giving a shout-out to the tiny gnomic namesake before turning to its contents.

"A gnomic and, given what's at stake, strangely unemotional lead performance from Adam Driver makes it hard to warm to this odd and deeply self-absorbed character. Add in the glacial pace of its narrative, and a film expected to take an early awards-season lead will struggle to hold that pole position."