Noise

Very early on the film takes on the feel of a meanderingly paced, talky version of 'Pacific Heights", which it self was a meanderingly paced, talky film. Some good performances come through, but not enough to save the film.

A recently divorced woman moves into a new apartment and tries to move on with her life. She soon discovers that her upstairs neighbor likes to crank up the noise at all hours of the night and keep her awake. When civility fails to resolve the problem and outside issues further complicate matters, the young lady must take more drastic steps.

From the start the film is determined to take it's time. Every scene unrolls at a languid pace, almost like it's challenging the audience to stay awake. Long, often pointlessly so, dialogue exchanges continue for what seems like an eternity only to end just in time for yet another needlessly lengthy dialogue exchange.

It would be fair to say that this over-abundance of exposition serves to build tension, except that there is little of no pay off to all the waiting. One could also say that it expounds on the character personalities were it not for that fact that in the end every one is motivated by either petty or unexplained reasons.

The filming matches the script to a 'T'. Aside for the occasional sporadic (actually kind of jarring) jump cuts, the film follows the events as they are, never appearing to be any more interested in what's happening that it needs to be.

The actors are what they are, an art house crowd for the most part. The lead actress is attractive (if REALLY skinny) and does a decent job with a character we have seen many times before. Ally Sheedy tries for neurotic, but comes off annoying.

Art house crowds might dig it's detached vibe, but most audiences will have a hard time ridding it to conclusion.

4/10

For originality this film rates high. Lance Doty has crafted a screenplay with loads of potential, and instant appeal to anyone who has had their sleep ruined by rotten neighbors. This premise is taken to psychotic lengths, and could have been much, much better. Unfortunately, director Tony Spiridakis seems to have slept through the whole thing. The pacing and camera-work are flat and colorless. He seems to have cast his actors and then abandoned them to their own devices. The only one up to the task was Ally Sheedy, and if not for her, this film would have fallen flat on it's face. Trish Goff, a model in her first film, is supposed to show us the mental disintegration of a young woman -- by degrees -- her fragile mind under assault from her own failures and alcoholism, with her slow collapse considerably hastened by the psychic torture provided by her upstairs neighbor. But Ms. Goff delivers a performance that would barely get her cast in a high school play. She does not inhabit her character; she has no sense of her psychology, no sense of bringing her incrementally to her breakdown. Ms. Goff brings very little to her role at all except what is already built into the script. As she is the pivotal character, and appears in every scene, the whole business bogs down in her flailing search for an appropriate emotion. If a real actress had been cast in this part, the film might have lived up to its promise. As it is, it will quickly be forgotten.

Late Christmas eve (2006), flipping through the cable I stumbled upon this creepy film that totally captivated me. How is it that crappy so-called psychological thrillers like PACIFIC HEIGHTS that aren't half as intriguing as NOISE get proper film releases? OK, the film isn't great but it was a good thriller about having the neighbor from hell living in the above apartment. Ally Sheedy was perfect as the crazy neighbor. Trish Goth displays the emotionally abused downstairs tenant. The believability factor is a bit of a stretch but it works. The film looks like it was made on a shoestring budget but that also works in favor of the film. It's gritty, just like the town where the story takes place (NYC)...you'll think twice before ever moving into a cozy little apartment!

This isn't Polanski or DePalma but it sure made an impact on me. Catch it on cable or go out and rent it...you won't be disappointed!

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.

The script introduces us to idiosyncratic characters, dialogue with an ear for the vulgar and the literate. The pace of the editing were dead-on. The music and sound design were perfect.

**SPOILERS** Interesting little movie about a mental breakdown that's caused by a combination of a noisy neighbor and a deep guilt-complex on the part of young Joyce Chandler, Trish Goff.

Moving into a Manhattan apartment house Joyce is about to start a new life after she broke up with her boyfriend Elliot, David Thornton. Joyce also gets a job with Gothom Press as a proof reader. The first night in her apartment Joyce is tormented with load noise coming from her upstairs neighbor.

The noise ,that continues for a couple of nights, is so nerve wracking that Joyce not only slips a note under the neighbor's door telling her to quite down but also calls the police for help. The neighbor Charlotte Bancroft, Ally Sheely, later knocks on Joyce's door and apologizes for her keeping her awake with her music and then invite her up for tea and cookies which Joyce declines.

At first you think that Charlotte is trying to make up with Joyce over what happened but later she's back again with the stomping and what sounds like military marching music that drives Joyce to the point where she begins to drink herself drunk. The drinking leads Joyce to fall apart on her job and is finally let go by her boss Margret, Jodie Markell, after she gave her a week off without pay in order to get herself together. Joyce's only hope is to get back with Elliot who's in Boston. When she calls him for help Joyce finds that he's living with another woman! This makes her depression get that much more severe. It's also found out through Joyce's talk with Elliot that she had an abortion which she can't face up to and is a major reason for her, what later turns out to be, self-loathing.

You start to realize that Joyce's problems are a lot more serious then the noise from upstairs but it's her focus on Charlotte that makes her forget the other far more crippling psychosis' she's suffering from. Talking it over with her neighbor Hank, Giancorlo Esposito, about what to do with Charlotte. Hank tells Joyce to secretly put her, Charlotte's, name in the local newspaper personal page and have those who answer it pay her a visit and maybe with a little luck she'll find the right person, for Joyce, who'll shut her up for good. Doing what Hank told her Joyce gets more then she bargained for in getting Charlotte the right person who ends up breaking her jaw and putting her in the hospital.

The movie begins to swing away from Charlotte and concentrates on Joyce as the really sick person who's in need of help with her drinking as well as picking up a stranger the creepy Larry ,Dov Davidoff, at the local bar. Not that Charlotte hasn't any serious problems herself she seems to suffer for a very deep sense of rejection and it was Joyce's rejection of her that set her off. That rejection had Charlotte go out of her way to destroy Joyce both financially and emotionally as well.

Charlotte recovering from a severe beating that she suffered from one of her man answering the personal add has Joyce over at her apartment for what at first seems like a friendly talk. The talk quickly escalates into a vicious brow beating of Joyce that leads to something that Charlotte never expected. That's what in he end frees Joyce from the control Charlotte had over her forever.