Maggot-6 Presently it's late January 2009. Though I enjoyed "Noise" extremely, I was so impressed throughout -even distracted- by the way it evoked my recollection of "Crash". That "Crash" (by Haggis) released in the US in '05, (and not the '96 one by Cronenberg). I've not found any mention of any perceived relationship, derivative similarity of voice or plot, between these 2 nearly simultaneous films in any online review or comment I perused neither here nor off-site. My mild surprise has further intrigued me and motivated me to post this. Perhaps many more Yanks will see it now that it has had such a broad exposure via Sundance - yet I wonder if anyone other than plain 'ol ME has had the same thought. You have? Then please do post that up. Thanks.

nycmode75 Before I go any further, I'd like to point out that I once had a neighbor who lived next door that nearly drove me mad (much like the Joyce, the lead character, in the film). So with that context in mind, I was intrigued by the premise of this film.So the film kicks off with Joyce, in a nutshell, looking for some peace and quiet following some great turmoil in her life. Fast forward (because you won't miss anything) a bit and you eventually see Joyce run into Charlotte, her upstairs neighbor that has a propensity for making loud noises late at night and early in the morning...forcing Joyce to lose some much needed sleep, and at times, her sanity.Not to give away too much, but the rest of the film is about her conflict with Charlotte, and eventually, finding a final solution to her ongoing problems.The premise of the film is interesting, and many people (like myself in NYC or other cities) can relate to being driven mad by bad neighbors. However, the script moves at a snail's pace. It's not that I can't enjoy slow films, but the resolution of each new element of drama often is left unresolved, or is unsatisfying given the amount of patience we need to reach it. One example - Joyce inexplicably has sexual encounters with random men, or kisses a good friend out of nowhere. But none of this leads has any relevance to her conflict with Charlotte.Throughout the movie, we see her lose more sleep, drink more and more, and have hallucinations. But because of a meandering script and terrible character development (we know Joyce is miserable, but does she HAVE to be miserable every time we see her?) - in the end you really don't CARE if she's suffering or not. By the end, I really couldn't care if Joyce died, Charlotte died, or both killed each other in a pool of blood. I give the actors credit for dealing with a screenplay that's all over the place, but in the end, you just don't really care about what happens - especially if the cute lead actress spends the whole movie looking angry, tired (or a combination of both).It's a shame because the movie had a good premise and a lot of potential.

Jonathan Funke I watched this at home under optimal conditions: with the dimly employed music-industry exec next door blaring his stuff full blast at midnight in my rent-stabilized East Harlem building. (He's a nice guy and doesn't mind me banging away on my piano, so we're cool.) So maybe I'm unduly sympathetic to this piece, which admittedly suffers from insubstantial and generally unsympathetic characters, an insufficiently established final twist, and a host of rude and spoiler-prone commenters here on IMDb.Still, "Noise" is refreshing in elements. Key decisive moments are amply teased ahead, producing more tension than you see in a lot of indy "psycological thrillers." The accrual of stresses on a frustrated NYC studio-dweller ring rough and rudimentary, but true. The protagonist's choices are as much to blame for her decline as her antagonist's boorish provocations, and the subway shots and outdoor scenes lack the stylized glamour (and/or overly glorified dinginess) that mark them as false in mainstream productions. This flick is nothing if not quotidian in its trappings.There are also a handful of lines that really could have dangled like cigarettes from the mouths of European-inflected windbags in the publishing industry 'round these parts. But couldn't they have come up with something better than "Gotham" as a standin for New York Magazine? (If that's a spoiler for you, you probably need a Metrocard more than you need "Noise" on your Netflix list.) There is a smattering of homage to classic apartment thrillers like Single White Female and Rosemary's Baby, but they only serve to highlight Noise's thin budget, cinematography and script. A half-dozen lines, including the detective's final valediction, suggest the playwright longs for something better, and knows it ain't quite happening here. Give it a shot if, like the protagonist, you're stuck at home on a rainy Tuesday with a bottle of hooch and nothing else worth trying on Video On Demand.

five04 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.