Noise

Joyce, just divorced from Elliot, is looking for a place to live in New York City, and she has found something nearly ideal. A safe neighborhood, a nice view, upstairs from Hanks's antique store, with only one other neighbor upstairs.

Unfortunately, Charlotte, the upstairs neighbor, likes to play her music loud, and sometimes she plays music when she can't sleep--even at 4 in the morning. She seems mentally unstable, though she has some sort of a publishing job. But at least her music isn't loud music. It's just played loud.

Joyce gets a job as a copy editor for a publisher. Her boss is nice. Joyce seems ideal for such a job because, after her parents died when she was 6, her grandparents raised her to be a perfectionist. But she has too many of her own ideas, and being new at the company, she is discouraged from trying to shake things up.

With her other problems, Joyce has difficulty coping with Charlotte, but in one really weird scene with fast editing and dreamlike sound, friends tell Joyce what to do about Charlotte. And Joyce's boss is actually a friend of Charlotte's--though this may not necessarily help. Eventually, Joyce finds her own solution, which eventually works, but not in the way Joyce had hoped.

Halfway through this movie, I was prepared to say this was one of the worst movie experiences I ever had. But part of the problem was the fact I had an allergy headache, made worse by really hot weather. Perhaps this gave me a special insight into Joyce's state of mind. But I didn't give up. Joyce didn't move, and I didn't turn off the movie because I didn't know when I'd ever see the rest, and I did want to. By the end of the movie, though, I was feeling better, and maybe not just because of the medication. I think the movie actually improved.

I couldn't stand Joyce. This did not necessarily mean Trish Goff gave a bad performance, though a really good actress might have helped me to like the character. As she was, though, I just couldn't care about Joyce. If her whining and constant drinking weren't enough, there was also the support group. Until I saw "divorced women" in the credits, I didn't know what that meant. It might have also helped if Joyce had been played by a good-looking actress. One character said she was beautiful, but she wasn't in my opinion.

Ally Sheedy did a good job, but she wasn't on screen enough. Her character was likable in a quirky way, but it took work. She looked her age early, but later she turned out to be quite a beauty. Giancarlo Esposito also did a good job as antique store owner Hank, who became Joyce's friend and was quite easy to like. I don't know the name of Joyce's boss, but the actress playing her also did a good job.

As to whether this film was really noisy, I found Charlotte's music irritating, but like Joyce, I have a low tolerance for noise, and my situation was even worse the day I saw this. Yet I'm not sure the noise level really communicated how bad it was for Joyce.

In the credits it said this movie was filmed in a quiet place. Strange, considering there wasn't any other comedy to speak of here.

The whole film seemed to have an eerie tone. Maybe some people enjoy a film like this. It's just not what I'm looking for.

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.

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!

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

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.