Noise

Noise boasts, among other things, being in the vein of the Roman Polansky film, The Tennant. My advice is see the Tennant, which is one of the more creepy and trippy psychological dramas you will find. Noise, on the other hand, doesn't know what it wants to be. It falls short of trippiness by sticking to a plot that has few delusions. The ridiculous events of the film really do happen. The characters (especially the most annoying Alley Sheedy) are not believable. The irritability of the "neigbor upstairs" is more like the antics of the old woman from the even more pathetic film Duplex. What you get is an attempt at a funny film that isn't funny. It strives to be Duplex which itself was just annoying. Yet the ridiculousness takes away from the lame attempt at being creepy.

I saw this film last night as part of the River Run film festival in Winston-Salem, NC and found it to be quite entertaining. The trailer seemed interesting so I figured I'd give it a shot. While watching, you can clearly see the mental breakdown of the main character Joyce and I found it easy to identify with some of her "issues." It has some explicit language and some brief nudity but that shouldn't really be a big problem. A day later, I'm still putting pieces of the movie together in my head. The ending also grabs you at a point where you feel the most vulnerable, much as Joyce is in the movie. All in all, a very good independent film. I recommend it if you have the opportunity to see it.

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.

A commenter above, Blackwallnut, hit the nail on the head. Ally Sheedy turns in a terrific performance as a neurotic neighbor, and she even comes off as frightening in her last scene. Giancarlo Esposito also does a fine job portraying Hank, the helpful shopkeeper. The problem with the film, however, is the lead--Trish Goff. I thought half the time that she sounded Australian, and, for the most part, her performance lacked emotion. Even when she provided some, it seemed strained and contrived. I also found the British lady with the filthy mouth to be tiresome after a while. With another actress, I suspect we'd have seen a better project. I don't think you can blame the director--unless he cast the lead, of course.

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.