The Sound of Silence

The "House Tuner" may sound cool as a new promising occupation, but this movie actually didn't open a new territory or new phase. It only gave you an either dark cloudy low cast New York or gave you a dim, dark home office of this guy's apartment. The camera purposely used certain darkened, tinted lens to emphasize the dreary conditions living in the big city. City noises are everywhere, inescapable, all the man-made sounds were so random, so abrupt, so unpredictable, like some most pieces composed by the crazy Igor Stravinsky. But at least this guy used music instruments to create those crazy, unpredictable scores. But in the big city, all the noises, the sounds are all man-made mechanical craps, there's no way you can decide any part of the city is in B minor or whatever. The city noises created by traffic or other things if coming afar, it usually is called "white noise". Appliances at home if plugged, the electricity circuit would definitely cause noises.

When this guy pointed out that the female client's depression, all-day-night-feeling-tired, or whatever was coming from her toaster, I just couldn't help myself. Are you serious?! Yo, she's too lonely, okay? Her job was too boring, okay? And this certified male loner would have declare her problem was from a toaster? Jesus.....There's nothing wrong with her, all she needed was a man, a romance, a lover, a man slept next to her at night, regular sex, then she'd be automatically rejuvenated and happier. It absolutely got nothing to do with the toaster, Okay?!

What we saw in this movie were: The New York weather were constantly cloudy and chill, the city noises were so loud, abrupt and constant. Most people in New York were not happy but like working ants. Everybody lived in a quite dark apartment. Nobody wore bright colors but dark clothes. Everything and everybody looked so depressed. There's no way to solve this big city phobia, the only way to escape is smoking pot, drink hard liquor or chain smoking. House tune? Save it, man.

One interesting effect of watching this film was that I kept wondering, "Is this a real story?" There's a feeling of accompanying the characters completely, like when watching real-time documentary footage. So I give The Sound of Silence big props for achieving utter non-contrivance. There's funky feel to the character tensions that's reminiscent of Beautiful Mind.

I personally love the premise and the resolution, though these get somewhat lost to the intensity of the city setting. On the other hand, that same setting makes the "bad guy" (commercial development) more ominous, so ultimately the setting is a fine choice.

It is indeed a slow film, but what it suffers from more are some confusing editing and scene choices that muddy the characters and story a bit.

I liked this movie. It's different and unexpected, despite a bit slow. I liked the way it ends, graciously. Go watch it!

I liked the premise a lot. I was hooked from the start and was just expecting more from the writer. A character arc that goes somewhere. A human story behind the whole thing. A parallel between Ellen's anxiety and Peter's own quirkiness or past. Surely, there must be a skeleton in his closet, some weird stuff that happened to him as a child that got him so obsessed with sound. Alas, none of that materialized. The whole story turned into one big "B-FLAT." As flat as Kansas towards the end. Or maybe it was a bit too dark and low-key for me. However, I must say the premise of the film really piqued my interest and caused me to think. I actually have get stress from my apartment and always knew there was something that was causing it. This film opened my eyes and made me very self conscious of "sound" around me. Overall, it's a good flick.

Not an action movie (pun intended), but a slowburning movie. Mysterious and mesmerizing story. Best served in a quiet and dark room, because this movies' photography and sound is as delicate as can be, with many scenes so dark, that it is barely visible what is happening, only further adding to the mesmerizing effect though...

The story: Peter Sarsgard plays an analyst of sounds, who has got a super sensitive ear and who helps people "tune" their homes, by removing certain dissonant sounds, until that day he isnt able to help one particular woman, played by Rashida Jones. What is going on inside Rashida Jones' house?

The good: the acting is great. The sound effects are mesmerizing. The story (terrific climax at the end) is wonderfully delicate, mysterious and (again!) mesmerizing.

Any bad? It's quite a dark and moody slowburning movie, almost depressing in nature, therefore not suited for the impatient or happy go lucky. However this movie is highly recommended for the art house movie fans of subtle and dark, mysterious stories, provided one darkens it's room before watching it, because of the very dark lighting techniques one often cant see very well what is happening on screen.

This movie needs to be heard as much as it needs to be seen. Terrific soundtrack. Using headphones quite effectively enhanced the claustrophobic, mysterious effect this movie had on me!

End note: if you liked this movies theme and spirit, you must try out the brilliant classic movie "The Conversation", directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It has got an almost similar theme, but it is much more intense and suspenseful...