Categories: television, cinema
Date: 15 May 2007 11:23:49
An exciting, as always, episode of Mythbusters last night (episode 69): a really big explosion and a look at whether its better to turn lights off or leave them on if you'll be gone only a short time (better to turn off) -- and a look at the Centennial Light: the world's longest lasting light bulb, claimed to have been going for 106 years and only turned off on a handful of occasions (and it even has its own webcam!).
Noise is the latest Aussie movie to be released -- and what a fantastic movie it is. And to think it's the first feature film Matthew Saville has directed. As an aside, in terms of Oz movies, I'm also looking forward to seeing Romulus, My Father (as I love Franka Potente and am looking forward to seeing Richard Roxburgh's movie directorial debut) and, next year, Baz Luhrmann's (love his work: always on an epic and grand scale) Australia.
The film starts with a bang, literally: opening with the aftermath of several shootings on a suburban train carriage. in which Lavinia (wonderfully played, especially her terror throughout, by Maia Thomas) enters. From there, the film moves into a fantastic study of its characters, who all have troubles, faults, questions, etc: especially Constable Graham McGahan (again wonderfully acted by Brendan Cowell, whom I last saw in the first two seasons of the wondrous lifestyle programme satire Life Support), who suffers, continually, from tinnitus. As could be guessed from the title, and from McGahan's tinnitus, noise (be it background sounds or those in the forefront) plays a large part of the soundtrack: even breaking through and overpowering the usual sounds, as we gain an insight into McGahan's world. As the movie moves on we gain greater insight into not only what happened on the train, but what is driving, and troubling, the characters. As Margaret, from ABC's At The Movies commented, "...what I want from a film is a punch in that emotional gut, and it's there in NOISE."
As you could guess there is violence, and there is a large amount of the f word (something that annoys me...but that's me), but I can heartily recommend it and I hope it makes it overseas, though there are some thick Aussie accents. I remember watching The Dish with a friend in Toronto and him saying he needed subtitles!