What makes it different from others?

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

This was one of those films that, at least initially, inspired me to reach for the eject button in frustration.The main reason for this was the obtuse characters :the Sergeant/boss, the detective, the girlfriend etc. The near victim and witness to a multiple homicide is treated in a manner that was just ridiculous - her rights ignored, no support or sensitivity exhibited by the police this was one of those stupid films that just frustrates from start to finish... it got better.The photography is expressive: particularly when capturing the flickering, decaying, night-lit scenes of Melbourne.The sound is interesting but I wasn't really sure that the protagonist was even someone whose experiences we were supposed to privilege when the soundscape became filled with his tinnitus' ringing... This was a film that could have had many interesting characters but I felt it failed on some human level to empathize with its' subjects. A lone cop (he acts more like a security guard) minding a community outreach "office" in a low rent suburb might have invited all manner of intersecting lives and interesting stories.... Unfortunately this wasn't THAT kind of film, emotionally stark and ending with a rather heavy- handed closure that was unfortunate.I'd rather it had ended ambiguously (and risked further frustration) than force a redemption or closure upon us. Leave it at that - and make your own mind up.

It's late at night. Lavinia (Maia Thomas) waits at an inner Melbourne train station, with her framed graduation picture and lost in her mp3 player. The train pulls up. She walks in. She's the perfect poster card for young women at risk, plugged into her music and oblivious. She has no idea of what she has walked into. Her life is about to irretrievably change.Constable McGahan (Brendan Cowell – Love My Way) is one of the police officers called in, but he never makes it. He passes out on the escalators. He has tinnitus, a persistent ringing in the ears that may or may not signify something more sinister. Either way, his boss won't cop it and punishes him by sending him to the suburban 'caravan' to gather information about this latest, shocking crime.Sounds like the setup for a conventional thriller, but Noise is nothing of the sort. We are pulled into McGahan's world as life aboard the caravan is akin to being in prison. With his tinnitus, it's steadily driving him insane. He has no thought of the case he is supposed to be working on, but instead contemplates his life.Cowell's performance is understated yet mesmerizing as a man whose life is disappearing beneath him, yet he struggles to cling to it. Despite his self absorption, we don't know much about him, which makes his journey a discovery, and all the more fascinating.The real star is director Matthew Saville, whose short feature Roy Hollsdotter Live was equally fresh and contemplative. Here Saville guides sophisticated performances from all the actors (a rarity) as well as his cinematographer, sound designer and composer.Saville's intelligence and depth graces every frame and it won't be long before he's tempted to depart from an Australian industry that can not support him. Let's hope his talent is nurtured, though I suspect he will join the rank and file of a well worn exodus.Noise is a beacon to all filmmakers everywhere, budget challenged or not. It is possible to work with a tried genre and be fresh and cerebral. Easily the best Australian film since Lantana (2001) and a damn good film in any language.

For me, this was the best Australian film since "Lantana" ... no, I'll revise that and say it's better than "Lantana". The script was brilliantly written, with believable dialogue and characterization, and yet with an eerie, unsettling tension and mystery about it. The acting was very good all round, and in the case of Brendan Cowell, superb. I loved the music score and the moody photography. One of the most outstanding features of this most unusual film was the outstanding sound design. The scene where Brendan Cowell's character tries to drown out the ringing in his ears by making a variety of loud noises is uniquely effective in it's use of sound as an element of a film. You never quite know where this film is going, but when you get there, it's devastating. This film does on a minuscule budget what many big-budget Hollywood blockbusters could never do ... it touches your heart and it makes you use your brain.

I went to the screening not knowing what I was going to see. I thought Noise was very well done and I enjoyed it, as I haven't seen another film like it. I walked out of the movie thinking how lucky I am not to have any problems like that and amazed at people that do have that problem that they can have normal lives.The movie was a little slow to start with but as the story revealed itself it became a must see what happens one. I especially loved the swearing because that made the characters even more real as that is how most Aussies talk in everyday life. Well the down to earth ones.I would recommend every one see this movie as it had the Aussie humor down to a tee - Job well done to all the actors and the director.I look forward to seeing more movies like this made.