Noise

This film is about a man's quest to stop alarm noises that plagues his city every day.

I must say I greatly sympathise with David. I live in a flat where opening a window at any moment (even after midnight) means that I cannot hear even the TV. Noise pollution is a serious an pressing problem but little people seem to be fighting against it. David questions why everyone is putting up with noise, while there are millions of people passionately fighting for other causes. To come to think about it, I don't know why either. Simple questions often are the hardest to answer.

Tim Robbins is great in this film, as usual. He is convincing as a stressed and impulsive man. His character is well portrayed, and I feel connected to him. "Noise" is executed well throughout, possibly except the threesome scene which I find rather unrelated to the cause.

"Noise" is inspiring as it enhances awareness towards noise pollution, and calls for people to fight against it. I hope one day we can live in peace and quiet!

The first few minutes of Noise demonstrated the promise that lies in the "basic material": a movie about a noised-out guy who took the law into his own hands. If it had stuck with the theme and explored it more widely, or broken it into various plot-strands, the idea could have carried a feature film. As it is, the picture is spoiled by its one-dimensionality, and pretty girls have to be roped in to - literally - sex it up. Anyone who has ever dreamed of smashing a sledgehammer into a howling car, or firing an Exocet at a passing jetliner, will fancy this title, but sadly it does not live up to its promise. Nevertheless, if you enjoy Tim Robbins, it's a nice outing for him.

Pardon the pun noise I am about to "audiolize" in this film review of the dark dramedy "Noise". Sorry if I am being too pun noisy. "Noise" stars Tim Robbins as David Owen, a New Yorker with a wife & a kid who is fed up with all the city noise mostly of car alarms and secondary beepers. Therefore, he embarks on a vigilante venture and wrecks the cars with alarms sounding off. Do not get alarmed but Owen becomes so obsessed with this that he actually creates an alter ego in him called "The Rectifier". But "The Rectifier" does run into obstacles in his "noise off crusade" by being arrested twice and irritating those in city government most notably the New York Governor. So it becomes quite a "David vs. Goliath" show for poor David. Even though when he does get arrested, not one accuses him of being "The Rectifier". Consequently, Owen's madness does create some domestic noise in his family life when his wife Helen leaves him and her daughter Chris starts to have problems in school. Owen tries to rectify his domestic problems but to no avail. Owen then meets a free spirit woman named Ekaterina who joins in The Rectifier's cause and helps him think of some political avenues he could take to fully solve the noise problem. And she even invites David to partake in some bedroom noise, which of course he has no problems with. Writer-Director Henry Bean's film is a very enticing one, and I do have to give him props for the originality of it; but Mr. Bean here was pretty much silent in developing a compelling plot structure, in both the writing & directing. Tim Robbins was commendable as Owen but the sporadic overacting did not deserve a buzz as one of the premier acting performances of the year. The supporting performances of William Hurt as Mayor Schneer, Bridget Moynahan as Helen Owen, Margarita Levieva as Ekaterina, and Billy Baldwin as the Mayor's Chief of Staff were of mediocre thespian noise quality. The premise and message of "Noise" is an important one, but too bad it got caught up in an "over the top" plot line which tempted me at times to turn off the "Noise". *** Average

I suppose there are lots of people who believe that their lives are full, interesting, deep and would make a good movie.

I also suppose that anyone who thinks so is wrong. Here's one. Some dullard got arrested for breaking into a car to disable its alarm. He then thought he could make a meaningful movie about it and somehow got it financed, with himself as writer/director.

The backbone of the story is this guys obsession, which boils down pretty much to anger management. Tacked on are two other story lines, one about a smarmy major. They must have had more planned and possibly shot here because he is played by William Hurt. The other side story is about a woman he spends time with after his wife kicks him out of the house.

In a competent writer's hands, these three threads could have been done well. As it happens we have some charming women in weak roles. María Ballesteros has a riveting 30 seconds with a talk about bodily imperfection. Its an almost Mamet segment about inner angels. But the rest of this is a huge waste, just noise.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

Noise is one of those movies we've wanted to watch for quite some time but never got a chance. It surfaced on the Xbox video marketplace, and so we thought we'd give it a rent. But while the issue of noise harassment is one that hits close to home for many, the same can't be so easily said of the movie bearing the name.

The reason for that is double standardization, and Henry Bean's Noise sins greatly in applying hypocrisy as one of its primary assets. Having expressed this sentiment, Noise is nonetheless a smart, entertaining movie doing more to promote understanding of the harm done by noise than most authorities ever could, and for that we heartily recommend it. It's also got Tim Robbins in the main role, and he's as awesome as ever.

In this one he plays David Owen, a successful professional and family man who relocates to Upper West Side Manhattan from suburban environs. Initially, the NYC apartment experience works well for Owen, his wife (Bridget Moynahan) and daughter (Gabrielle Brennan). Over time, though, he begins to get increasingly irritated with car alarms going off unattended, to the point of literally ruining his life. Precipitated by this trauma, and by the indifference to his plight offered by those around him, a transformation occurs, one in which docile David Owen becomes a rampaging anti-noise vigilante with no qualms over taking matters into his own hands.

But this is where Bean and his movie verge into hypocrisy-land. While the main character crusades against noise makers, he only seems to care about inadvertent machine-generated noise like alarms and backup beepers. Yet, his own wife is shown to be a chamber musician who regularly holds recitals in their living room. Are we certain the neighbors approve? Therefore, the overt conduct of this film is too limited in scope to a specific kind of noise, while perhaps tacitly endorsing a much more malicious form causing misery to millions.

Later the story does acknowledge the individual nature of suffering from noise – the protagonist encounters those who complain about manhole covers, drum playing neighbors, boomboxes and other problems. He also hooks up with one of the noise makers, done by lovely Margarita Levieva, who becomes an unlikely ally in struggle to get city authorities to recognize the plight of the noise-terrorized citizenry. This leads to a borderline-racist parody of Mayor Bloomberg done by an overly smug William Hurt.

In showcasing a progressive struggle, the movie does a lot of good – there's a very efficient portrayal of the uncaring legal system's impotence in enforcing noise regulations, something that needs to be shown if change is ever to materialize. Owen ends up achieving a modest victory, and the movie concludes on a positive, satisfying note.

Noise goes by quickly and says quite a bit for its modest timespan. Tim Robbins, as usual, does a wonderful job as a person suffering from torture at the hands of stupid, monolithic factors he can't control in a world that no longer bothers with traditional civilities. Anyone who's ever been in that situation will see themselves in Robbins' character right away.

The narrow scope Noise maintains most of the time, the hypocrisy and the mere token mention of the broader issue of noise, however, take away from the sense of achievement here. As it stands, the film comes too close to discussing a mere pet peeve rather than a far reaching social sickness, but even so, this is one movie you should watch.