Noise

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I've never written a movie review before, but holy hell, what on earth was that. They had a few okay ideas, albeit incredibly cliche, and then proceeded to leave every single loose end untied. The entire factory narrative served 0 purpose. The ending is a crime against film itself. Nothing was resolved at all, leaving every single plot line entirely pointless. I have no idea what the story was or what even happened. I went back and rewatched parts because I thought I must have missed something, but nope. I did not. Even.giving this film 1 star is generous. They must've watched it back after ending filming and thought "this is utter garbage, but hey we've gotta put something out to appease out investors" I'm genuinely mad lol.

As "Noise" (2023 release from Belgium; 90 min.) opens, we are introduced to Matthias and Liv, a young couple with a newborn son. They are moving into the house where Matthias gre up with his dad. His dad is now in a seniors center. Matthias is having a hard time coping with the baby waking him up every night. Then one day, Matthias finds out that his dad was the CEO of a nearby chemical plant, which now stands abandoned. Why? At this point we are 10 min. Into the movie. Couple of comments: this is a full-ledged production from Flanders, Belgium (the Dutch-speaking side of Belgium). I hail from Flanders, Belgium myself, and when I saw this in the newly added titles of Netflix, I just had to watch it. Alas, this is not a great movie. For that, the story line is simply too thin and scattered. This is not a "mystery" or a "thriller" or even a "psychological drama". It's a hodge-podge of lots of genres but in the end can't decide what it really wants to be. The most interesting thing about the movie is the sound construction, piecing together all kinds of irritating noises, none more so than the baby cries, again and again, and again, but also things like the car wash sounds, a fruit blender, etc. We get the point: Matthias is overwhelmed by noises. The cast features Sallie Harmsen as Liv (she also starred in "Blade Runner 2049"). "Noise" started streaming on Netflix just this weekend. Unless you are from Flanders, Belgium and are simply curious as to what a Flemish movie can do, I don't know that I can recommend this film in good conscience to anyone. Of course don't take my word for it, so check it out and draw your own conclusion.

I wasn't going to review, but then I saw all these people raving about it and realized....if real people don't leave honest reviews, movies like this end up with inflated scores that make no sense. This movie is a hot mess. It attempts to carry off two parallel plots but it doesn't, really, do justice to either. The "twist" isn't actually a twist so much as a bait and switch kind of thing, where you're led to believe the big mystery is the main plot, and then toward the end you realize it was merely a device to illustrate the main characters deteriorating mental health. And, you also discover, the actual plot is something that's only been hinted at (main characters relationship with his father), which they're going to withhold a key detail on until the end.... I guess as some sort of weak explanation for the ninety minutes of SCREECHING crying baby and shenanigans you've endured. Maybe it would have benefitted from some flashbacks, IDK. At the end of the day, it didn't do enough to make me care about any of the people involved....and it definitely didn't make me care enough that I wanted to do the work to figure out two thinly stretched together plots. But, I mean, at least Ward Kerremans is fun to look at.

The complexity of a psychosis is very beautifully expressed and is very beautifully interpreted by the main character (Ward Kerremans). An original approach and very beautifully portrayed. Both contemporary problems that take place within families today and more universal timeless subjects are discussed. For me, the film could easily have lasted half an hour longer so that the director (Steffen Geypens) would have had more time to explore the few strong characters that carry this film. The main character's wife was a discovery for me, an actress (Sallie Harmsen) who certainly caught my attention and who I will also follow in the future. It is not an obvious genre, which is a Belgian production, which is surprising! Tastes like more! A cast and crew to keep an eye out for in the future! Very nice movie!