A24’s horror movie Talk to Me may not have been recognized by the Academy Awards here in the United States this year, but the box office hit just scored big over in Australia.
The most prestigious awards ceremony for the Australian film and television industry is the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, and Talk to Me – directed by Australian brothers Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou – just took home eight awards over the weekend… including the single biggest prize of the night: Best Picture!
In addition to Best Picture, Talk to Me also won the following awards:
Best Direction in Film – Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou Best Lead Actress in Film – Sophie Wilde Best Editing in Film – Geoff Lamb Best Hair and Makeup – Rebecca Buratto, Paul Katte, Nick Nicolaou Best Original Score in Film – Cornel Wilczek Best Screenplay in Film – Danny Philippou, Bill Hinzman Best Sound in Film – Emma Bortignon,...
The most prestigious awards ceremony for the Australian film and television industry is the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, and Talk to Me – directed by Australian brothers Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou – just took home eight awards over the weekend… including the single biggest prize of the night: Best Picture!
In addition to Best Picture, Talk to Me also won the following awards:
Best Direction in Film – Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou Best Lead Actress in Film – Sophie Wilde Best Editing in Film – Geoff Lamb Best Hair and Makeup – Rebecca Buratto, Paul Katte, Nick Nicolaou Best Original Score in Film – Cornel Wilczek Best Screenplay in Film – Danny Philippou, Bill Hinzman Best Sound in Film – Emma Bortignon,...
- 2/14/2024
- by John Squires
- bloody-disgusting.com
The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (Aacta) handed out its 2024 awards on Saturday, and Talk to Me won big, including for best film and best director, while Margot Robbie was honored with the Trailblazer Award.
Barbie, Oppenheimer and The Bear were among the Hollywood honorees, with big Australian winners including the likes of The Newsreader, Deadloch and The New Boy.
“Talk to Me is the biggest winner of the night, adding a further three awards to its collection and taking its total wins to eight, following the Aacta Industry Awards earlier in the week,” the Australian Academy noted. The honors include the one for best direction in film for sibling-YouTubers-turned-directors Danny and Michael Philippou.
Among acting talent earning trophies, rising star Sophie Wilde won the best lead actress in film award for her performance in Talk to Me, while Aswan Reid got the best lead actor in film...
Barbie, Oppenheimer and The Bear were among the Hollywood honorees, with big Australian winners including the likes of The Newsreader, Deadloch and The New Boy.
“Talk to Me is the biggest winner of the night, adding a further three awards to its collection and taking its total wins to eight, following the Aacta Industry Awards earlier in the week,” the Australian Academy noted. The honors include the one for best direction in film for sibling-YouTubers-turned-directors Danny and Michael Philippou.
Among acting talent earning trophies, rising star Sophie Wilde won the best lead actress in film award for her performance in Talk to Me, while Aswan Reid got the best lead actor in film...
- 2/10/2024
- by Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“Talk to Me” was the runaway winner at this year’s main awards from the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts.
The native production, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival last year and was acquired by A24 for North American distribution, scored three of the evening’s top prizes, including wins for best film, best lead actress for Sophie Wilde and best direction for the filmmaking duo of brothers, Danny Philippou and Michael Philoppou.
Other winners from this year’s edition include “The New Boy” stars Aswan Reid and Deborah Mailman in lead actor and supporting actress, respectively, and Hugo Weaving in supporting actor for “The Rooster.”
The Aacta Awards were held Saturday evening at the Home of the Arts, Gold Coast in Queensland. Rebel Wilson served as host, while Australian star Margot Robbie was honored with the group’s trailblazer award.
See the full list of winners below.
The native production, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival last year and was acquired by A24 for North American distribution, scored three of the evening’s top prizes, including wins for best film, best lead actress for Sophie Wilde and best direction for the filmmaking duo of brothers, Danny Philippou and Michael Philoppou.
Other winners from this year’s edition include “The New Boy” stars Aswan Reid and Deborah Mailman in lead actor and supporting actress, respectively, and Hugo Weaving in supporting actor for “The Rooster.”
The Aacta Awards were held Saturday evening at the Home of the Arts, Gold Coast in Queensland. Rebel Wilson served as host, while Australian star Margot Robbie was honored with the group’s trailblazer award.
See the full list of winners below.
- 2/10/2024
- by J. Kim Murphy
- Variety Film + TV
Talk to Me was named Best Film at the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, which were handed out today on the Gold Coast. The teen horror pic also won Best Director for Danny and Michael Philippou and Best Lead Actress for Sophie Wilde.
Talk to Me took eight total statuettes, including five from the Aacta Industry Awards earlier in the week. The Newsreader and Deadloch also won five AACTAs each, including the Industry nods.
The group also revealed its winners in TV, online and other categories. See the full list from both Aacta Awards ceremonies below.
Aswan Reid took Best Lead Actor in a Film for The New Boy, and his co-star Deborah Mailman won the Supporting Actress prize. Hugo Weaving scooped Best Supporting Actor for The Rooster and added a Best Lead Actor in a Drama trophy for Love Me.
On the TV side, The Newsreader took Best Drama Series,...
Talk to Me took eight total statuettes, including five from the Aacta Industry Awards earlier in the week. The Newsreader and Deadloch also won five AACTAs each, including the Industry nods.
The group also revealed its winners in TV, online and other categories. See the full list from both Aacta Awards ceremonies below.
Aswan Reid took Best Lead Actor in a Film for The New Boy, and his co-star Deborah Mailman won the Supporting Actress prize. Hugo Weaving scooped Best Supporting Actor for The Rooster and added a Best Lead Actor in a Drama trophy for Love Me.
On the TV side, The Newsreader took Best Drama Series,...
- 2/10/2024
- by Erik Pedersen and Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
The Australian drama premiered at Cannes and stars Cate Blanchett.
Warwick Thornton’s The New Boy leads the nominations for the 2024 Aacta (Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts) Awards with 12 nods, closely followed by horror Talk To Me with 11 nominations.
The New Boy is up for best film, actress for Cate Blanchett and actor for newcomer Aswan Reid while Australian Indigenous filmmaker Thornton is nominated for best director, screenplay and cinematography.
The film is set in 1940s Australia and stars Blanchett (who also serves as a producer) as a nun who takes in a nine-year-old Aboriginal orphan boy. It...
Warwick Thornton’s The New Boy leads the nominations for the 2024 Aacta (Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts) Awards with 12 nods, closely followed by horror Talk To Me with 11 nominations.
The New Boy is up for best film, actress for Cate Blanchett and actor for newcomer Aswan Reid while Australian Indigenous filmmaker Thornton is nominated for best director, screenplay and cinematography.
The film is set in 1940s Australia and stars Blanchett (who also serves as a producer) as a nun who takes in a nine-year-old Aboriginal orphan boy. It...
- 12/11/2023
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
This review of “You Won’t Be Alone” was first published on Jan. 22 after its premiere at Sundance.
The dismal arthouse horror-drama “You Won’t Be Alone” will surely test the patience of viewers who expect a straightforward, character-driven, or even generic period chiller. Set in 19th century Macedonia, writer-director Goran Stolevski’s debut feature presents a disorienting narrative about Nevena (mostly played by Noomi Rapace), a shape-shifting teenage witch who’s kidnapped and then haunted by the malicious “wolf-eateress” conjurer Maria.
The movie’s heavy-handed and often distracting impressionistic style — lots of too-tight extreme close-ups, wobbly hand-held camerawork, whispery stream-of-conscious voiceover narration, and over-edited montages — will understandably frustrate some viewers and draw comparisons to recent dramas directed by Terrence Malick as well as Robert Eggers’ “elevated horror” movies “The Witch” and “The Lighthouse.”
Stolevski’s pretentious and mindlessly alienating style also smothers his ensemble cast’s performances and his crew’s diligent contributions,...
The dismal arthouse horror-drama “You Won’t Be Alone” will surely test the patience of viewers who expect a straightforward, character-driven, or even generic period chiller. Set in 19th century Macedonia, writer-director Goran Stolevski’s debut feature presents a disorienting narrative about Nevena (mostly played by Noomi Rapace), a shape-shifting teenage witch who’s kidnapped and then haunted by the malicious “wolf-eateress” conjurer Maria.
The movie’s heavy-handed and often distracting impressionistic style — lots of too-tight extreme close-ups, wobbly hand-held camerawork, whispery stream-of-conscious voiceover narration, and over-edited montages — will understandably frustrate some viewers and draw comparisons to recent dramas directed by Terrence Malick as well as Robert Eggers’ “elevated horror” movies “The Witch” and “The Lighthouse.”
Stolevski’s pretentious and mindlessly alienating style also smothers his ensemble cast’s performances and his crew’s diligent contributions,...
- 4/1/2022
- by Simon Abrams
- The Wrap
ABC’s The Newsreader has collected a further six Aacta Award nominations, taking its total to 16, with the academy unveiling the technical craft nominees today.
Nitram now leads in film after picking up another eight nominations, taking its total to 15. High Ground gathered four further nods, taking its tally to 12, tying it with The Dry, which gained another six today.
This year’s Industry Awards will again be virtual, broadcast online on Aacta TV as part of the 2021 ScreenFest Program, as well as Binge and Foxtel Arena, December 6. The ceremony will then be held two days later at the Sydney Opera House.
This year, key film prizes as best supporting actor and actress in a film, as well as best original and adapted screenplays, will be presented during the industry awards, rather than the main ceremony as has been the case in previous years. Other key TV prizes will also...
Nitram now leads in film after picking up another eight nominations, taking its total to 15. High Ground gathered four further nods, taking its tally to 12, tying it with The Dry, which gained another six today.
This year’s Industry Awards will again be virtual, broadcast online on Aacta TV as part of the 2021 ScreenFest Program, as well as Binge and Foxtel Arena, December 6. The ceremony will then be held two days later at the Sydney Opera House.
This year, key film prizes as best supporting actor and actress in a film, as well as best original and adapted screenplays, will be presented during the industry awards, rather than the main ceremony as has been the case in previous years. Other key TV prizes will also...
- 11/4/2021
- by Jackie Keast
- IF.com.au
Matchbox Pictures/Dirty Films’ Stateless dominated the Aacta Industry Awards on Friday evening, scooping up all of the television drama prizes.
The six gongs the ABC production received were for: cinematography, for the work of Bonnie Elliott; costume design, to Mariot Kerr; editing, to Mark Atkin; production design, to Melinda Doring; score, to composer Cornel Wilczek, and sound, going to Tom Heuzenroeder, Pete Smith, Michael Darren and Des Kenneally.
This year’s craft and technical awards were a little different thanks to Covid-19, presented virtually in a ceremony hosted by Claire Hooper.
Presenters included Rachel Griffiths, Ed Kavalee, Rhys Nicholson, Dilruk Jayasinha, Celia Pacquola and Bernard Curry.
In film, The Invisible Man and True History of the Kelly Gang each scooped three awards, and Babyteeth two.
Kirsty McGregor and Stevie Ray took home Best Casting for assembling the cast of Babyteeth, which boasts Eliza Scanlen, Toby Wallace, Ben Mendelsohn and Essie Davis.
The six gongs the ABC production received were for: cinematography, for the work of Bonnie Elliott; costume design, to Mariot Kerr; editing, to Mark Atkin; production design, to Melinda Doring; score, to composer Cornel Wilczek, and sound, going to Tom Heuzenroeder, Pete Smith, Michael Darren and Des Kenneally.
This year’s craft and technical awards were a little different thanks to Covid-19, presented virtually in a ceremony hosted by Claire Hooper.
Presenters included Rachel Griffiths, Ed Kavalee, Rhys Nicholson, Dilruk Jayasinha, Celia Pacquola and Bernard Curry.
In film, The Invisible Man and True History of the Kelly Gang each scooped three awards, and Babyteeth two.
Kirsty McGregor and Stevie Ray took home Best Casting for assembling the cast of Babyteeth, which boasts Eliza Scanlen, Toby Wallace, Ben Mendelsohn and Essie Davis.
- 11/27/2020
- by Jackie Keast
- IF.com.au
Suzi Quatro.
Four years in the making, producer Tait Brady and director Liam Firmager are in fine cut of their theatrical feature documentary on rock ‘n’ roll trailblazer Suzi Quatro.
Suzi Q charts the career of the Detroit-born, UK-based singer/songwriter/bassist/bandleader/actor Susan Kay Quatro, hailed as the first female rocker to break through into the mainstream.
“It’s quite personal, an essay on the price of fame,” Brady tells If. “We look at her marriage and divorce, her children and sibling rivalry.”
Film Victoria is an investor in the doc produced by Brady’s The Acme Film Company, which he will release later this year via Label Distribution.
The international sales agent Kew Media began pre-sales at the European Film Market in Berlin, with deals to be announced.
Firmager met Quatro via a mutual connection when she was touring Australia four years ago. She agreed to take...
Four years in the making, producer Tait Brady and director Liam Firmager are in fine cut of their theatrical feature documentary on rock ‘n’ roll trailblazer Suzi Quatro.
Suzi Q charts the career of the Detroit-born, UK-based singer/songwriter/bassist/bandleader/actor Susan Kay Quatro, hailed as the first female rocker to break through into the mainstream.
“It’s quite personal, an essay on the price of fame,” Brady tells If. “We look at her marriage and divorce, her children and sibling rivalry.”
Film Victoria is an investor in the doc produced by Brady’s The Acme Film Company, which he will release later this year via Label Distribution.
The international sales agent Kew Media began pre-sales at the European Film Market in Berlin, with deals to be announced.
Firmager met Quatro via a mutual connection when she was touring Australia four years ago. She agreed to take...
- 3/17/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Helen Morse and Robert Taylor will join Reef Ireland and Kerry Fox in Downriver, an Australian mystery drama that aims to court controversy.
The feature debut of writer-director Grant Scicluna, the film is due to start shooting in Victoria on November 5.
Ireland (Puberty Blues, Wentworth, Blessed) will play James, a teenager who is sent to prison for drowning a little boy when he was a child, although the body was never found.
In an attempt to uncover the truth, he takes dangerous risks to find redemption and return the missing body to the grieving mother.
Fox plays his mother. Taylor, who stars in Us TV.s Longmire, is cast as her new boyfriend who is unaware she has a son. Morse is a reclusive dog lover who holds the key to the mystery.
It.s a rare screen role for Morse, who has worked almost exclusively on the stage since...
The feature debut of writer-director Grant Scicluna, the film is due to start shooting in Victoria on November 5.
Ireland (Puberty Blues, Wentworth, Blessed) will play James, a teenager who is sent to prison for drowning a little boy when he was a child, although the body was never found.
In an attempt to uncover the truth, he takes dangerous risks to find redemption and return the missing body to the grieving mother.
Fox plays his mother. Taylor, who stars in Us TV.s Longmire, is cast as her new boyfriend who is unaware she has a son. Morse is a reclusive dog lover who holds the key to the mystery.
It.s a rare screen role for Morse, who has worked almost exclusively on the stage since...
- 10/7/2014
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Short film fest, The St Kilda Film Festival has announced its award nominees across 18 categories. Winners will be announced on Sunday 27 May
The announcement:
Now in its 29th year the St Kilda Film Festival’s (Skff) Top 100 competition recognises and awards local filmmakers of all levels of experience who excel in creative and craft and who show potential for growth within the industry.
From an increasingly competitive field of entrants, 62 nominees are in the running for 18 prestigious awards and their share of $40,000 of cash and in-kind prizes, with the winner of the Best Film being awarded $10,000 cash.
The nominations for the 2012 Best Short Film include: At The Formal (Directed by Andrew Kavanagh & Produced by Ramona Telecican). Peekaboo (Directed by Damien Power & Produced by Joe Weatherstone) The Palace (Directed by Anthony Maras & Produced by Anthony Maras, Kate Croser, Andros Achilleos) and Transmission (Directed by Zak Hilditch & Produced by Liz Kearney)
Nominees...
The announcement:
Now in its 29th year the St Kilda Film Festival’s (Skff) Top 100 competition recognises and awards local filmmakers of all levels of experience who excel in creative and craft and who show potential for growth within the industry.
From an increasingly competitive field of entrants, 62 nominees are in the running for 18 prestigious awards and their share of $40,000 of cash and in-kind prizes, with the winner of the Best Film being awarded $10,000 cash.
The nominations for the 2012 Best Short Film include: At The Formal (Directed by Andrew Kavanagh & Produced by Ramona Telecican). Peekaboo (Directed by Damien Power & Produced by Joe Weatherstone) The Palace (Directed by Anthony Maras & Produced by Anthony Maras, Kate Croser, Andros Achilleos) and Transmission (Directed by Zak Hilditch & Produced by Liz Kearney)
Nominees...
- 5/24/2012
- by Colin Delaney
- Encore Magazine
It seems controversy leads to awards. The two big winners at last night.s inaugural Aacta Awards were thriller feature film Snowtown and TV drama series The Slap. Both renowned for their controversial nature, the film and TV series netted four and five gongs respectively.
Snowtown, about Australian serial killer John Bunting who befriends a 16-year-old, was honoured in the Best Direction (Justin Kurzel), Best Adapted Screenplay (Shaun Grant), Best Actor (Daniel Henshall) and Best Supporting Actress (Louise Harris) categories.
The last two awards were particularly impressive as neither actor had appeared in a feature film before. While Henshall had previously acted in such shows as Out of the Blue, it was Harris. first ever acting role.
The four gongs awarded last night at the Sydney Opera House brings the film.s tally to an impressive six Aacta Awards after receiving Best Editing (Veronika Jenet Ase) and Best Sound (Frank Lipson Mpse,...
Snowtown, about Australian serial killer John Bunting who befriends a 16-year-old, was honoured in the Best Direction (Justin Kurzel), Best Adapted Screenplay (Shaun Grant), Best Actor (Daniel Henshall) and Best Supporting Actress (Louise Harris) categories.
The last two awards were particularly impressive as neither actor had appeared in a feature film before. While Henshall had previously acted in such shows as Out of the Blue, it was Harris. first ever acting role.
The four gongs awarded last night at the Sydney Opera House brings the film.s tally to an impressive six Aacta Awards after receiving Best Editing (Veronika Jenet Ase) and Best Sound (Frank Lipson Mpse,...
- 1/31/2012
- by Sam Dallas
- IF.com.au
Australian cinematographer Don McAlpine (Acs/Asc) received two standing ovations after tributes from longtime colleagues Jack Thompson and Bruce Beresford at the inaugural Australian Academy Cinema Television Arts (Aacta) awards yesteryday.
McAlpine was awarded the coveted Raymond Longford Award for a lifetime achievement in cinema. McAlpine’s career spans over 50 films including Moulin Rouge and William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet, Breaker Morant and most recently Mental.
The ceremony, hosted by Sigrid Thornton, was the first for the newly formed academy. The ceremony also included the announcement of the Australian academy’s international awards to recognise excellence in film. The announcements were made during a live cross to actress Jackie Weaver at the G’Day USA Gala in Los Angeles.
Further awards for both Australian cinema and TV and the international awards will be presented on January 31 at the Opera House.
The Winners
Raymond Longford Award
Don McAlpine
Byron Kennedy Award...
McAlpine was awarded the coveted Raymond Longford Award for a lifetime achievement in cinema. McAlpine’s career spans over 50 films including Moulin Rouge and William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet, Breaker Morant and most recently Mental.
The ceremony, hosted by Sigrid Thornton, was the first for the newly formed academy. The ceremony also included the announcement of the Australian academy’s international awards to recognise excellence in film. The announcements were made during a live cross to actress Jackie Weaver at the G’Day USA Gala in Los Angeles.
Further awards for both Australian cinema and TV and the international awards will be presented on January 31 at the Opera House.
The Winners
Raymond Longford Award
Don McAlpine
Byron Kennedy Award...
- 1/15/2012
- by Brooke Hemphill
- Encore Magazine
The Hunter has lead the Aacta Awards with 14 nominations including best film.
The film, by Daniel Nettheim, is also up for best direction, adapted screenplay, cinematography, sound, production design, costume, original music score, and visual effects. Meanwhile, Willem Dafoe, Frances O’Connor, Sam Neill and Morgana Davies are all up for acting awards.
The film has currently made just over $1m at the local box office.
It’s the first year for the re-launched AACTAs, formerly the AFI awards.
The technical awards will be given out at a luncheon on 15 January at the Sydney Opera House, with an evening ceremony for the more ‘public-friendly’ awards held at the Opera House on 31 January.
Running against The Hunter for best film is Red Dog, Mad Bastards, The Eye of the Storm, Snowtown and Oranges and Sunshine.
The Eye of the Storm, was second in the nominations race with 12, of which six are...
The film, by Daniel Nettheim, is also up for best direction, adapted screenplay, cinematography, sound, production design, costume, original music score, and visual effects. Meanwhile, Willem Dafoe, Frances O’Connor, Sam Neill and Morgana Davies are all up for acting awards.
The film has currently made just over $1m at the local box office.
It’s the first year for the re-launched AACTAs, formerly the AFI awards.
The technical awards will be given out at a luncheon on 15 January at the Sydney Opera House, with an evening ceremony for the more ‘public-friendly’ awards held at the Opera House on 31 January.
Running against The Hunter for best film is Red Dog, Mad Bastards, The Eye of the Storm, Snowtown and Oranges and Sunshine.
The Eye of the Storm, was second in the nominations race with 12, of which six are...
- 11/30/2011
- by Colin Delaney
- Encore Magazine
Romantic comedies make money. Lots of it. So why isn’t Australia making more? Miguel Gonzalez spoke with the creators of I Love You Too, a comedy that will help fill that gap in the film market.
I Love You Too is comedian Peter Helliar’s big screen debut, produced by Princess Pictures’ Laura Waters (We Can Be Heroes, Summer Heights High) and Yael Bergman (Love and Other Catastrophes).
Helliar had worked with Waters in the pilot episode for Rove in 1999 and kept in touch with the producer.
Knowing he had a number of ideas for features, in 2002 Waters asked Helliar to choose one and start working on it. Due to other commitments, it took a while before that idea became a treatment and, finally, a film script.
According to Waters, the message that drove Helliar to write the story and guided every draft was “tell people that you love them”, and from that premise,...
I Love You Too is comedian Peter Helliar’s big screen debut, produced by Princess Pictures’ Laura Waters (We Can Be Heroes, Summer Heights High) and Yael Bergman (Love and Other Catastrophes).
Helliar had worked with Waters in the pilot episode for Rove in 1999 and kept in touch with the producer.
Knowing he had a number of ideas for features, in 2002 Waters asked Helliar to choose one and start working on it. Due to other commitments, it took a while before that idea became a treatment and, finally, a film script.
According to Waters, the message that drove Helliar to write the story and guided every draft was “tell people that you love them”, and from that premise,...
- 5/4/2010
- by Miguel Gonzalez
- Encore Magazine
Retro Active Film
PARK CITY -- It's clear from the first few minutes of Matthew Saville's "Noise" that this highly compelling first feature has no intention of being your average, run-of-the-mill thriller.
Set in a small Melbourne suburb where two possibly connected heinous crimes have been committed just before Christmas, the film, which received its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, kicks off with a wallop, then constantly confounds expectations by approaching its subject matter from fresh directions.
Factor in some neatly modulated performances and a dynamic sound design entirely fitting for a film titled "Noise", and you've got an import that could make itself heard in the specialty market, though there are times when the heavy dialect can put a strain on untrained ears.
That startling beginning takes place in a subway station, where a young woman (Maia Thomas), immersed in the music coming from her headphones, is oblivious to the familiar screeching of metal and rubber that announces the arrival of her train.
But she can't help but notice when a fellow passenger keels over and falls to the floor. When she goes to assist her, it is then that she realizes that everyone else in her car has been shot to death with the exception of one lone survivor who turns out to be the perp.
Meanwhile, in another subway station, a young constable (Brendan Cowell) is about to go up an escalator when he suddenly passes out, cutting open his forehead on the sharp metal step. He's diagnosed with tinnitus and applies for workers' compensation but his unsympathetic superior instead assigns him to mundane surveillance duty in a police caravan stationed near a second murder scene.
Screenwriter-director Saville might be working in the police procedural/thriller genres, but he has no interest in confining himself to the usual cat and/or mouse perspectives. He also extends his reach to the peripheral characters whose lives have been impacted by the tragic events in very different ways.
Production values are solid, but it's sound designer Emma Bortignon who deserves a special shout-out here, with a remarkable mix that effectively simulates that crippling ringing in Cowell's head.
Like many other things about "Noise", it immerses the viewer in some intriguing new places.
PARK CITY -- It's clear from the first few minutes of Matthew Saville's "Noise" that this highly compelling first feature has no intention of being your average, run-of-the-mill thriller.
Set in a small Melbourne suburb where two possibly connected heinous crimes have been committed just before Christmas, the film, which received its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, kicks off with a wallop, then constantly confounds expectations by approaching its subject matter from fresh directions.
Factor in some neatly modulated performances and a dynamic sound design entirely fitting for a film titled "Noise", and you've got an import that could make itself heard in the specialty market, though there are times when the heavy dialect can put a strain on untrained ears.
That startling beginning takes place in a subway station, where a young woman (Maia Thomas), immersed in the music coming from her headphones, is oblivious to the familiar screeching of metal and rubber that announces the arrival of her train.
But she can't help but notice when a fellow passenger keels over and falls to the floor. When she goes to assist her, it is then that she realizes that everyone else in her car has been shot to death with the exception of one lone survivor who turns out to be the perp.
Meanwhile, in another subway station, a young constable (Brendan Cowell) is about to go up an escalator when he suddenly passes out, cutting open his forehead on the sharp metal step. He's diagnosed with tinnitus and applies for workers' compensation but his unsympathetic superior instead assigns him to mundane surveillance duty in a police caravan stationed near a second murder scene.
Screenwriter-director Saville might be working in the police procedural/thriller genres, but he has no interest in confining himself to the usual cat and/or mouse perspectives. He also extends his reach to the peripheral characters whose lives have been impacted by the tragic events in very different ways.
Production values are solid, but it's sound designer Emma Bortignon who deserves a special shout-out here, with a remarkable mix that effectively simulates that crippling ringing in Cowell's head.
Like many other things about "Noise", it immerses the viewer in some intriguing new places.
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