Own the rights?
29 out of 36 people found the following comment useful :- Greater than the sum of its parts, 8 May 2007 Author: bohemiapictures-1 from Australia
This is a small film, it could very well have been quality television in the vein of "The Surgeon" or "Blue Murder" as opposed to a cinematic piece as I viewed it (Dendy Newtown). The technical aspects - cinematography, score, sound design, production design etc... are all at a high level and what we (Australians), have come to expect from a film of this genre and budget , but no more. The performances are across the board solid, dry and accessible, and it is a pleasant change to see some newish faces as opposed to the usual subjects.. The script/story is nothing particularly outstanding or original and this style of social comment/genre pic subject matter has been covered by many and various other films over the past years.But! And this is a big but. In the hands of this filmmaker, writer/director Matthew Saville, all these ingredients mold and mesh into something that elevates every element to serve a singular and defining purpose, that purpose being the film in its entirety, its meanings and commentary that lie in the cracks of all these artists' work and their complementary and beautifully orchestrated synergy .Having seen the film twice in as many days; Noise is a brilliant film and I highly recommend it to anyone who has a love of silent cinematic exploration.
26 out of 34 people found the following comment useful :- A very well crafted and subtle film, 4 May 2007 Author: Eric Rose from Sydney, Australia
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.
22 out of 28 people found the following comment useful :- Terrific, 20 May 2007 Author: stevecarey-1 from Australia
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.
23 out of 30 people found the following comment useful :- At Last! No heroin addicts., 31 May 2007 Author: Zigster59 from Australia
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.
18 out of 27 people found the following comment useful :- NOISE: It's the opposite of what you are!, 16 June 2007 Author: peter henderson (peter@peterhenderson.com.au) from Australia
*** This comment may contain spoilers ***
I left the screening of NOISE knowing I had seen a film made with consummate skill and acted superbly, but still somewhat bemused and not sure how I felt about it.The hero of NOISE is a policeman played by Brendan Cowell with an engaging amalgam of all the best things about those great Antipodean actors Russell Crowe, Colin Friels and David Field. He not only oozes charisma from every pore but is thoroughly believable throughout the film. But then the entire cast put in flawless performances with wonderfully natural ensemble acting. The tarnished reputation of the Victorian Police Force must have been given a makeover by all involved with this film.So why was my response so muted? Probably because I just did not get it.It was not until I read Chris Hedge's book, "War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning" a few days later that I gained a foothold on the task of interpreting what might have been going on.Everyone knows that Freud said that EROS, or sex is the key to understanding most of our actions. But Freud also promulgated an equal and opposite force that affects our behaviour – THANATOS. That is the term that describes the meaning and energizing function that the contemplation of death and suffering gives to lives left empty by a surfeit of the pleasures that are generally associated with the conventional notions of happiness. Not surprisingly, the THANATOS thing never really caught on – it is much more fun thinking about sex.But Hedges suggests we ignore THANATOS at our peril. I think the hero cop of NOISE is guilty of doing just that. When he suffers from tinnitus, or ringing in his ears, he sees it as a means of getting some stress leave from his duties.But Matthew Saville's script and direction may well be suggesting that it is a warning sign. It may be a response to the anxiety and stress produced by his failure to acknowledge and engage with the razor thin line between the kind of civilized and compassionate behaviour he is charged with upholding and the exhilarating lust for violence and mayhem the entire population carry around with them in their innermost beings. If you find that notion unconvincing ask yourself why symbolic war games such as football matches are so popular. And why the war and police film genres are such staples of literature, art and cinema. Love and hate, Eros and Thanatos – that's pretty well all that is on offer ever since man began expressing himself.The hero cop's lover is miffed when she discovers he has hidden his problems from her. But she shows him how to deal with the noises in his head. He should think of the ringing as the opposite of all that he really is. She likens it to the negative yellow, green, cyan that are the opposites of the red, green, blue colours in a photograph. The thanatos as opposed to the eros. She shows him how to nullify the ringing by superimposing a countervailing sound 180 degrees out of phase with the ringing sound – by acknowledging the thanatos and taking steps to combat it.Hedges sums up that erotic therapy rather neatly...We are tempted to reduce life to a simple search for happiness. Happiness, however, withers if there is no meaning. The other temptation is to disavow the search for happiness in order to be faithful to that which provides meaning. But to live only for meaning – indifferent to all happiness – makes as fanatic, self-righteous, and cold. It leaves us cut off from our own humanity and the humanity of others. We most hope for grace, for our lives to be sustained by moments of meaning and happiness, both equally worthy of human communion.The killer in NOISE has found a way to deal with these drives by acts of violence. But the cop is so devoted to avoiding these issues that he does not even recognise the killer when he is talking to him. And he pays the price for his dissembling in the final cataclysmic encounter of the film. But the sustaining support of his lover has changed him. He reveals the true nature of her plight to the sole witness to the killings when no one else will. He has learned to acknowledge and confront the dark aspects of human nature. The ringing in his ears has stopped.
10 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :- All roads lead to.... where?, 7 July 2007 Author: miscreant
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.
11 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :- A fine film., 18 June 2007 Author: sara_tunny from Australia
I was taken by surprise by how good this film was.Everyone's performance fit perfectly within the world of the film. Naturalistic, but totally involving. Brendan Cowell was beautifully sympathetic in the lead role.The director (Matthew Saville) should be commended for being able to achieve what he has for his first feature. It's a rare thing to see an Australian film so in control of what it's doing. And so moving by it's finish.I look forward to seeing it again.9 out of Ten.
4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :- Music to the Ears., 1 February 2008 Author: lost-in-limbo from the Mad Hatter's tea party.
Now this is what I call a surprise, and one of the best Australian films to come out in the last couple years. Matthew Saville's magnificently striking, movingly sombre and realistically crafted crime drama "Noise" is quite a neat little package that really does over deliver. We follow that of a self-doubting, and tinnitus afflicted cop McGahan, as he finds himself manning a police van in a suburban community that has just been overwhelmed by a group of vicious murders. The script (within the character's make-up), plus the technical side of the production (sound effects) demonstrates some creative brushes with the whole tinnitus angle. Brendan Conwell's convincing lead performance is nothing more than sensational, in what is a vulnerable turn of coming to terms with the responsibility of his duties and the growing fear of his uncertain health. Maia Thomas' traumatised performance is just as hypnotically good. Saville's lean material is high on mood, blunt and darkly engaging on the gradual build-up of the inner-workings of his characters and environment. The location photography is masterfully shot, and the lighting composition also helps provoke an arresting and brooding atmosphere that shrouds the air. The direction of Saville is casually handled with a prominent rich style, and Bryony Marks' alienating music score never overstays its welcome. Meaningfully top-notch and powerful entertainment.
8 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :- Sharp thriller about isolation, fear and such..., 18 June 2007 Author: tcheb from Montreal, Canada
It's been almost a full day since I've seen it and I still don't really know what to think. The movie is Australian so for me it's automatically great, but I'm still struggling to understand some (not to say most) of the movie's elements. The dialogs are as sharp as they get especially between the cop and the killer in the caravan (- What's your name? - It's Mc as in McDonalds and Gahan as in I gahan read the nameplate). The movie also works very well on the psychological level and not just in a Silence of the lambs psycho killer way. I also wish I saw it with subtitles because some of the Aussie slang was just way too much for me.
3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :- Decent film somewhat ruined by it's snale's pace and seemingly random ending., 18 May 2009 Author: CineCritic2517 from Netherlands
The pros:Very good acting all around and superb directing from writer/director Matthew Saville who manages to keeps the viewer in suspense despite the film's slow progression and meandering screenplay.The negative:The film really only picks up some speed around half way by which time we had already struggled through some hard to follow dialog and failed to make sense of the direction the film was taking. Add to this an ending which felt a little bit tagged on and left me highly dissatisfied.Not really sure what to make of this film, It surely won't get a second viewing any time soon but I wouldn't discourage anyone from seeing it either.6.5/10
Add another comment
