Noise

This film reminds me of classic early Hitchcock films like "Blackmail", "Strangers on a Train" or "Secret Agent". These are films that don't feature a lot of action but instead focus on mood, message, dialogue and the audience's imagination.

I'll omit the customary rant about today's Hollywood action flicks with car chases, explosions, cgi & contrived romances with busty supermodels because you don't need to hear it. Suffice it to say that this film is the opposite of that stuff. Here, in Hitchcockian form, we get a quiet, slow-moving freight train of a film. It sparks your imagination as you work to piece together not just the story but the meaning & symbolism behind everything.

The title of the film refers to an ear condition suffered by the main character. He is plagued by a high pitched whining in his head which could be indicative of a terminal condition or possibly nothing. Similarly, the film focuses around fear and how it plays with our minds... possibly justified or possibly paranoia, but powerful regardless.

The story revolves around a crime, witness protection and an underdog police officer's attempts to deal with it in addition to his own failing life. There is a pervasive feeling of loneliness and disconnection that runs throughout the film, which for some reason reminds me of the Clint Eastwood classic "In the Line of Fire" (about a failed secret service agent trying to wrap his head around an assassination plot.

It's slow paced but powerful. I'd say if you're a fan of Wim Wenders ("Wings of Desire", "Paris Texas", "Million Dollar Hotel") or Takeshi Kitano ("A Scene at the Sea", "Fireworks") or Rebecca Miller ("Angela") you'll probably like this film. It doesn't have a lot of flashy pyrotechnics to hold the attention of the average Hollywood-action-flick-junkie, but if you're looking for a powerful, poetic experience, look no further.

After seeing an interview with director Matthew Saville, who seemed as intelligent as any film maker you could care to name, I was interested enough to go out and track this one down. And it doesn't disappoint. Certainly visually it is wonderfully well executed, and the sound is strong too. The dialog is sharp, subtle, and at points hilarious (and supremely Australian).

Unfortunately, the downside is the disjointedness of the plot line. To me it seemed yearning to be free from a plot line as a major source of interest (and focus instead in the pure dialog and landscape - certainly I feel that's where Saville's interest is). But it wasn't. There are two driving plot lines along the whole film and something happens in every scene, even though subplots are not continued, or often resolved. To me the finale was also ultimately quite generic and futile as a point of interest.

Ultimately, the words 'interesting, but not "great"' come to mind, and it fits vaguely into a bucket with several other Australian films of the last 5 years (candy, little fish, look both ways, Japanese story, etc.) in dealing with the same demographic, themes of emptiness and loss, and being willingly obtuse (artistic?) in its presentation, even if this one does have its own thing happening a little outside of that also.

Oh man, what a great film. I enjoyed this so much. You'd be much better not knowing too much about it - but since you're here, you already know a fair bit (and I promise not to tell you any more). This is a 'grower,' one of those quiet, strong movies that not everyone will 'get' or appreciate. To me, it worked in the same way as Trampoline, Sideways, Little Miss Sunshine (and indeed Sunshine) and You, Me and Everyone We Know (I think that was its name) work... quirk, waywardness, risk. For it to succeed in working for some of us, almost by definition it's bound to alienate lots of others, too. I'm not surprised that some will say "Huh? Is that it?" But the ways it plays with the notion of noise and not-hearing and hearing something but not the right thing are just tremendous. So three cheers for writer and director Matt Saville. Ditto too for the acting - not a wrong note or bad performance among 'em.

I'm still thinking about this movie a couple of days on... Do yourself a favour, try not to learn any more about this, try not to let my raving set too high an expectation, and get along and see it for yourself. I hope you're one of those who DO get it.

That's right – an Australian drama with no heroin addicts. It is possible and it can still result in high quality piece of cinema.

This isn't to say Noise is a light piece. No, no. It's is a very serious-minded and thoughtfully produced film. The mood is carefully and slowly created and the places where things happen feel real (though I will say there were some overly self-conscious scripted moments that didn't ring true to me). And like life – some of the big questions in this movie go unanswered.

It's a brave thing to do but as an audience member, you realise Noise isn't trying to be a police drama or a murder mystery, though those elements are both there. It's more about how things just happen – people come into your life, events take you over and you can't control any of it, all you can do is deal with the consequences.

Noise is one of those rare films that stays with you for some time after you see it. No car chases, no explosions – just emotional engagement and a place to consider how you're coping with the hijacks and loose cannons in your own life.

I loved this film. It's a subtle, layered and measured work with good performances and a wonderful use of music and sound design. The story is well paced and again I see it in musical terms with the crescendos and diminuendos carefully crafted and motifs re-occurring throughout. I also found it a visual pleasure - well lit and photographed.

For a lot of the time, the soundscape echoes the tinnitus of the lead character. Constable McGann is a man isolated in several senses and the film hovers for the most part, like he does, on the periphery of a horrendous and senseless crime. This isn't really a police procedural, but an exploration of the lives affected by the event - the locals sitting just outside the event horizon and in danger of getting sucked into the vortex.

There's knowledge hidden from us, the audience, and also events and motivations that are hidden from the protagonists - even those directly affected by them and involving them. To that extent, this movie reminds me a lot of Memento.Meaning unfolds and understanding grows as the film progresses, but at the end, you are deliberately left with pieces missing from the jigsaw puzzle. It seems to me that you are meant to be left with a sense of the fragility of society; a sense that there will always be gaps in the way we understand our relationships to others and in the way our lives play out.

I love the way that the movie ends with austere credits rolling over a couple of minutes of silence, before sound in the form of an orchestra creeps back into our perception, instrument by instrument. We share the hero's aural affliction throughout the movie and the silence and re-introduction of sound offers a sense of change and resolution - and maybe hope.