8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Implied echoes of a disturbing noise., June 15, 2005
This review is from: Noise (DVD)
Low-budget, independent, but not overly artsy. Like others of its kind, it has a slightly unsteady, surreal feeling to it, lacking the glossing-over that one is accustomed to from mainstream Hollywood movies. To be honest, this film isn't entirely successful at pulling off its genre, and there are better, more developed films with the same basic idea but a greater amount of introspection and polish (in terms of acting, script and storyline). But Noise isn't half-bad - it's just not a full meal.
It's disturbing, rather graphic at times - watch out for a few (thankfully brief) explicit sex scenes, as well as moments of violence. But mostly, the screenplay is supposed to work on a psychoanalytical level... or at least that's my rationalisation for why some characters constantly talk like they're either psychics or psychiatrists. This makes for an awkward script filled with a lot of presumptions, although I suppose it's just an attempt to give the film an eerie, penetrating aspect.
The premise: a young woman, Joyce, moves into a new apartment after a failed relationship. The tenant above her space is insane (read: very eerily eccentric) and won't stop blaring loud music in the wee hours of the morning. Joyce's sleep suffers for this, and she seeks various ways to put an end to the disruptive noise, growing increasingly desperate and increasingly unhinged.
The ending... well, if you've seen movies of this genre (psychological, abstract, probing into human nature and whatnot), you can probably guess the ending, keeping in mind that this is supposed to be a psycho thriller/drama.
All this being said, it could've been a more intelligent film, but (like some other "deep," cerebral, abstract movies) Noise chose instead to end on a rather unsatisfying, trailing-off note.
A good watch if you don't mind the occasional explicitness and a medium amount of coarse language - but, if you are more for fast-paced action and a concrete plotline with everything laid out and explained, this may not be the film for you. Whatever you do, don't show it to young children... Noise shows a much darker side of humanity.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Ride, March 29, 2005
This review is from: Noise (DVD)
You'll love this film if you are looking for something different. This film defies the predictable and carries the viewer into a plot free to surprise us giving us a satisfying cerebral experience. Noise has the complexity, the nuance, the depth, of some of the best films I've seen. I highly recommend it to those looking for a change of pace from your typical Hollywood film. Trish Goff's performance was remarkable considering this was her first effort and she is literally in every scene. Ally Sheedy was fantastic as the antagonist.
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7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Has its moments, but lacks credibility, April 24, 2005
This review is from: Noise (DVD)
Noise is the *kind* of movie I generally like and search for --independent, low budget and not overloaded with special effects and other Hollywood gimmicks. A psychological thriller like this has to rely on the fundamentals --character and story-- to keep the audience's attention. While I did find Noise interesting, and at times engrossing, for me it fell short in some important respects. The starring role is played by the unknown Trish Goff, who does a good job as Joyce, an unstable woman who moves into a new apartment after a traumatic divorce. This apartment is supposed to be in New York City, but given the paltry view of the streets (except for one shot of the Empire State Building), we can be sure it was filmed elsewhere. This may seem like a petty quibble, but it bothers me that so many films do this. If they can't film in New York, fine, but why say it's New York then?
Joyce is pushed over the edge by Charlotte (Ally Sheedy), a very noisy and apparently deranged upstairs neighbor. I found the Charlotte character to be the film's weakest point. Ally Sheedy plays her as a kind of generic movie psychotic whose sole raison d'etre is apparently to torment Joyce. While Goff, with her almost disconcertingly thin body and wide-eyed expression, manages to convey a real sense of someone on the edge of a breakdown, Sheedy's character is less believable and seems to belong in another film, perhaps a comedy. I just couldn't buy her madwoman routine here.
There are other aspects to the film that are less than believable. A woman's group Joyce joins to help get over her divorce contains an unlikely amount of cattiness and trash-talking. At one point, Joyce takes out a personals ad in Charlotte's name. She does this as a counter-harassment measure, but it backfires and brings out the nymphomaniac in Charlotte. To me, this was an obvious and contrived excuse to spice up the movie with some gratuitous sex. If this weren't enough, there are a couple of scenes where Joyce has erotic encounters with men she just met. Having to make both of these women fill their time with casual sex suggests a lack of confidence in what is supposed to be the real story. Given that no plausible motive is given for either Joyce's or Charlotte's behavior, especially towards the end (in movies like this, well-meaning friends always ask the very sensible question, "why don't you just move?" but the victim never listens), we can see why they felt the need to divert us. Noise has an interesting premise (which evokes some better films such as Roman Polanski's The Tenant), but only partially delivers.
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