MuLes Blogueuse

(2013-05-23 05:29:27)

Sound of Noise: ode to music in four movements

Have you ever left a movie theater with your feet stamping and yourhead shaking in rhythm, as if you had a persistence of hearing a Funkdrum & bass beat when you just came out of a concert?No? So let yourself experience « Sound of Noise »! You will follow theadventure of drummers/percussionists determined to perform the piece ofthe Century: « Music for a city and six drummers », whose fourmovements will be played in four very different public sites in thecity and this despite a musician-hunt, a police hunt which chases thepercussionists to each of their illegal concerts.The directors of this project and these musicians/madmen (SannaPersson, Magnus Börjeson Anders Vestergard, Marcus Boij Haraldson,Fredrik Myhr and Johannes Björk) drew the attention first with a shortfilm: « Music for One Apartment and Six Drummers » where they tookpossession of an apartment for 9 minutes. Then the concert/squat tookplace in the kitchen, the bedroom, the bathroom and the living roomwhere the percussionists were performing with only day-to-day's objectsas instruments in this temporary impromptu in A minor. The movie wasproduced in part thanks to this short film.Following the same principle that in the short-film, the musicians usethis time everyday objects of the city for each musical « happening »:white stripes on the asphalt, car's engine, containers on the docks,construction's grids, piping, dogs barking, electronic and hydraulicsystems, the banknotes that pass through the shredder, ink pads, steamshovel …They decide to use the city first in order to protest and to rebelagainst the sound pollution in the city, at least initially. The filmis the object, the cause, the means and the symbol of the fight: Downwith musical obscurantism! Long live freedom! The most Rock'n Roll andpolitical part in the same time is one scene where policemen arrest allthe musicians and another one where we can see the funniest police roadcheck-point I've ever seen (and simultaneously very disturbing): -« What do you have to declare? - I repeat, I do not have drums in mytrunk." (As it was cocaine or weapons ...) »The musician hunt is lead by an investigating officer: AmadeusWarnebring and despite of his promising name, he's allergic to music.He chases relentlessly the drummers until he falls in love...The soundtrack is so clever in providing alternations between silences,percussionist's innovations, noise pollution the musicians are fightingand classical music which represents traditionalism. The film is itmore a documentary about a fantastic and unique concert? There is astory (stories of love on many levels), a fantasy and the directorseems to use emotions and scenes like sounds as if it were four guitarchords: going from tenderness to revolt, from fear to laughter in oneswipe of fingers.The inventiveness of the six percussionists, including the composer,goes all the way in ending musical apotheosis when using the mostformidable guitar-electric bass ... trying to undermining the noise,pop music in the city, slaying and musical obscurantism.

stensson

(2013-05-22 15:21:39)

You've never heard something like that

"Music for an apartment and six drummers" has reached so called cultstatus on Youtube. Here is a full length version of the same idea. Youcan use a hospital patient as percussion, you an surely also use banknote destroyers for the same purpose, not to talk about caterpillars.True drum anarchy and if you're into this kind of humour, you will findthis incredibly funny. The plot is thin, on purpose, and includes atone deaf police inspector. He's coming after the percussionterrorists.This Swedish movie really has its chances to be some kind of cult hitabroad. But you must like rhythm.

Chris_Pandolfi

(2013-05-16 12:31:15)

Anarchy to the Beat of a Different Drum

I have not seen every movie ever made, but I'm fairly confident in mybelief that there has never been one in which six anarchist musiciansbreak into a hospital dressed as nurses, wheel a patient into anoperating room, sedate him, and then perform a makeshift concert usingeverything in the room, including the patient's stomach, as apercussion instrument. "Sound of Noise" is one of the most refreshinglyoriginal oddities to come along in quite some time – a crime caper, adeadpan comedy, and a fantasy all rolled into one. The soundtrack isrhythmic and infectious yet curiously indescribable, as it rarelyfeatures traditional acoustic or electronic instruments. Forunconventionality alone, composers Fred Avril and Magnus Börjeson (alsoone of the actors) may be deserving of an Oscar nomination for BestOriginal Score.The film, adapted by directors Ola Simonsson and Johannes StjärneNilsson from their 2001 short film "Music for One Apartment and SixDrummers," tells two separate yet related stories, both of which willcleverly converge in the final act. In the first story, we meetpoliceman Amadeus Warnebring (Bengt Nilsson), whose very name is theepitome of cruel irony; born into a family of musical prodigies, hegrew up tone-deaf and ultimately developed a physical and psychologicalaversion to music altogether. He desires nothing more than a world ofsilence. This isn't to say he wants to become deaf. He just wants themusic to stop. He's an embarrassment to his family, especially hisbrother, Oscar (Sven Ahlström), a respected conductor.In the second story, we meet Sanna Persson (which, conveniently, isalso the name of the actress playing her) and her sidekick, Magnus(Börjeson), both of whom were expelled from a prestigious music academysome years earlier for their unorthodox musical philosophies. They bothbelieve that the world is drowning in a sea of bad music. They resolveto compose their own brand of music, the likes of which the city won'tsoon forget. They recruit four drummers from various musical circles toassist them. Collectively dubbed the Six Drummers, they devise a"concert" consisting of four movements – which is to say, they willtrespass into four different city locations and make an orchestra outof the available objects (think an antiestablishment retrofit of Stomp,and you've got it). The first movement is at the hospital, mentionedabove. The second is at a bank, in which they use shredding machines,stamps, and coins in harmony. The tellers and customers are never heldat gunpoint, but they are forced into being an audience.The Six Drummers leave a path of vandalism. Warnebring follows it,despite not being taken seriously by his fellow officers or superiors.As he goes from one location to another, led by clues hidden within thenames of the movements, he becomes aware of a bizarre aural deficit: Hecan no longer register sound from any object or person touched by theSix Drummers. Take the hospital patient whose stomach became a drum;when Warnebring tries to question him, all he can see is an angry manmoving his lips. He bangs on a bedpan yet hears no metallic clang. Hepasses a barking dog, and yet no bark emanates from its mouth. As thisis happening, he accepts an invitation to attend a concert conducted byhis brother. It takes less than twenty bars of music before he mustexcuse himself, for the sound of the orchestra is like sandpaper to hisears.I think the filmmakers were wise to not let little things likeplausibility get in the way of the screenplay. I would not say the filmis an emotional experience, although it certainly doesn't work on themind. Like a child playing a game of make believe, the story freelybypasses the roadblocks of common sense and rationality and simply is.We're not supposed to question how the Six Drummers got hold of scrubsor bulldozers or diggers or jackhammers (wait until you see how thoselast three are utilized). We're not meant to analyze the physical ormental reasons for Warnebring's selective deafness. These plot linesare intended to be fun and freewheeling. You might even say thefilmmakers move to the beat of a different drum.I have doubts about the ultimate fate of the Six Drummers, for it seemshighly unlikely that true anarchists would suddenly and inexplicably beso compromising in their ways. As for Warnebring, I found his finalscene charming yet bittersweet. What he considers a victory, I considera tragic loss. But who am I question what makes someone happy? More tothe point, why should I be critical when it was the only appropriatedirection for the story to go in? For anyone who believes the movieshave ceased to be unique, "Sound of Noise" will be like a shot in thearm. It's a revitalizing experience, not just as a story but also as acelebration of sound and music. Here is a film in which audiophilesshould be just as entertained, if not more so, as avid movie watchers.-- Chris Pandolfi (www.atatheaternearyou.net)

jotix100

(2013-05-15 23:37:58)

Beating to a different drum

Amadeus Warnebring was born to a musical family. The only problem earlyin his life Amadeus the family realize he is deaf. As there is nofuture in music for him, Amadeus decides to become a policeman. As adetective he is able to function because his ability to read lips, thushe is able to make a career as a detective when we first meet him.Sanna Persson, a woman with an ambition to do her own kind of music, isnot exactly what one would expect. Her music is eclectic and different.She is the composer of a musical project "Music for the City and SixDrummers" a complex undertaking to create music using the most bizarremethods. Helped by Magnus, she embarks on a journey to recruit mencapable of playing the most outrageous instruments besides the drums.Their tactics baffle everyone and the police, who consider they aresimply terrorists.This wonderful Swedish comedy was jointly directed by Ola Simonsson andJohannes Stjarne Nilsson. The main idea seems to be questioning ourtastes in music. While Amadeus comes from a classical musicians, thegreat conductor Oscar Warnebring is Amadeus' brother, the creators aremerely asking why are we so against to listen to music that appears tobe strange to our ears. Sanna and her group want to incorporateeveryday sounds into compositions that while different, are notcompletely horrible. In fact, there are cadences in some of the piecesthat are even tuneful.Amadeus' own world is silence, and yet, he can understand what Sannaand the band are trying to accomplish. Bengt Nilsson gives a goodperformance as the deaf detective. Sanna Persson appeared in thedirectors' own "Music for One Apartment and Six Drummers", which seemto have been the basis for this full length feature.Shot in and around Malmo, Sweden, which the cinematographer CharlottaTengroth captures for our enjoyment. The music was created by FredAvril, Magnus Borgeson and Six Drummers. The film does not disappoint.

billcr12

(2013-05-14 01:31:17)

Quirky and entertaining

How about four anarchist drummers performing street music illegallywithout permits from the proper authorities. The first event takesplace in a hospital operating room where an obese man is awaitingsurgery and whose body is used as a percussive device. A bank is next up for these oddball artists. They don't rob it, butinstead shred the money, utilizing the sound of the machines foreffect.The third movement, as it were, has the four with giant bulldozers infront of an opera house using the shovel portion thumping up and downon the asphalt of the parking lot as a rhythmic tune.The final act is an ingenuous undertaking where the musicians aresuspended from electrical power transmission lines using metal objectsas bows mimicking the sound of a gigantic violin. Art of Noise is avery quirky comedy which I found to be funny and inventive at the sametime.

StevenS Sheehan

(2013-05-13 14:06:11)

A Surreal Musical Comedy

Sound of Noise is a surreal and ever so slightly barmy Swedish comedydesigned to make you look at your household and everyday items in acompletely new light. What the film lacks in budget is substituted bythe huge ideas incorporated within the story by directors Ola Simonssonand Johannes Stjärne Nilsson who build a world around the ideals of afine art project.Sanna and Magnus are two musical mavericks, determined to break awayfrom traditional convention yet they find themselves frustrated at thesmall scale impact their projects appear to have on their home city.The first of which is seen as they speed down the motorway pursued bythe police. Magnus manically beats the drums in the back of their vanwhilst Sanna revs and changes gear in time with their signaturemetronome.That will give you a heads up of the running theme throughout the film.They want to make a bigger impression with their work by pushing themusical scope of the city, making people stand up and listen to theirpassionate creativity. The bottom line is they want to dispose of therubbish music they fear is ruining their soundscape.Meanwhile Amadeus (Bengt Nilsson), a tone deaf police inspector, picksup on their trail that slowly develops into a personal journey toovercome the years of frustration spent as a side note amongst his ownfamily. His father was a world renowned classical composer and hisbrother Oscar, a childhood musical prodigy, continues the familytradition as a leading composer in the country.A familiar cops and robbers theme develops between the inspector andthe musicians, although never over complicated or serious enough todetract from the light and fun tone so evident throughout.The 'musical terrorists' build their movement around four signaturepieces of work in the city, incorporating inanimate objects andwhatever materials lay nearby. It brings to mind the work of MatthewHerbert, a classically trained British electronic musician whopioneered the use of everyday objects into the modern electro movement.These set pieces are a joy to behold – wonderful short snapshots ofmusic that are warm, catchy and in the case of the last 'Electro Love'quite poignant.Firstly they take a famous patient 'hostage' in a local hospital, thenproceed to play music in, around and actually on him, using theoperating materials and machines to get the beat and rhythm formed. Thebank is next; except they do not want to steal the money instead shredit through the machine whilst the sound bounces off the stamps beinghammered behind the desks.Each example gradually grows in scale making the fourth and last by farthe most impressive and one of the most original ideas I have seen onor away from film.Scaling up pylons and across the gigantic electricity lines, they shutdown half of the cities power supply then use them as chords toreverberate their final piece deep into the city. The stakes are thenraised as they play with the power on, creating a rhythm with the powersource so the whole city becomes subject to the throbbing lights playedin time. Shops, houses, office blocks and whole streets switch betweendark and light in a fantastic crescendo leaving you to wonder how sucha small film pulled off such an expansive visual treat.Dig a little deeper and you could use this as an analogy for the younggeneration to have their voices heard, something indicated later in thefilm when the cities musicians are rounded up. I could also sit hereand pick out some of the flaws with the characters or plot but therewould be no point to that at all.Just enjoy the feel good factor, stretching the boundaries of yourimagination that will leave a content smile on your face as the bossanova outro sees you through the door.

The Truth

(2013-05-12 12:06:46)

Slight but highly entertaining

Give credit to Sound of Noise: despite dealing with such lofty themessuch as the nature of music and its performance, it never becomesunnecessarily arty or academic. Instead, the movie has loads of quirkyhumour and an energetic plot, driven by a group ofdrummers-become-art-terrorists and their plan of turning everyday urbansoundscapes into avant-garde percussion pieces. Bengt Nilsson does anice performance as Amadeus Warnebring, a manic, tone-deaf andmusic-hating offspring of a family of classical pianists andconductors. The drummers are presented pretty much as caricatures ofprogressive musicians, but as such they're spot-on and funny. Eventhough the film-makers' sympathies are clearly on the side of thedrummers, they're not above making gentle fun of avant-garde'sexcesses, and they're also surprisingly understanding of Warnebring'sdesire to live in a world of silence, with no music. The plot of themovie is slight, with some key elements left unexplained, but itsfast-paced and constantly entertaining execution makes up for that. Atthe heart of Sound of Noise are the percussion pieces performed by thedrummers, and they do not disappoint. The four performances seen in thefilm are awe-inspiring in their mise-en-scГѓВЁne, sound design andediting. For those scenes alone, Sound of Noise would be worth a view;as a whole, it's a quirky but easily-digested piece of pop art.

Enchorde

(2013-05-12 03:41:53)

Don't watch... Listen!

Amadeus Warnebring is the black sheep of the family, completely tonedeaf, where as everyone else is musical prodigies. Amadeus went on tobe a cop instead and is put in charge of the mysterious investigationwhere the only clue is a metronome left behind. And soon a group ofanonymous percussionists starts to terrorize the city with music.Sound of Noise is a very odd movie. Forget that the dialog and storyare somewhat stiff and wooden at times, it is the music that iseverything. And it rocks. Especially the piece with the heavy machinerywas spectacular, but the performance at the hospital was catching aswell. Anyone who likes rhythm is in for a real treat.7/10

VillageVoiceNY

(2013-05-10 21:23:37)

Sound of Noise

More an intriguing premise than a successful film, the MalmГѓВ¶-set Soundof Noise, about a group of "musical terrorists," quickly loses itsnovelty and becomes about as bold as a Swedish production of Stomp.Sonic intifadists Magnus (Magnus BГѓВ¶rjeson) and Sanna (Sanna Persson)assemble four other misfit percussionists to perform their magnum opus,Music for One City and Six Drummers. These slaves to the rhythm executetheir instrumental bricolage on, among others, overhead power lines anda hospital patient whose blubbery gut produces the desired resonance.Their acts of sabotage make them the...Read the full review here: http://www.villagevoice.com/movies/

Matthew Stechel

(2013-05-10 07:31:52)

Very inventive premise will either charm you or annoy you depending on your tolerance of whimsy

Sound of Noise actually manages the very rare feat of laying out aunique spin on the detective/police procedural format. Oh the elementsare there, there's a cop, there's a band of "terrorists" who are alwaystwo steps ahead, there's a personal connection between the acts of theterrorists and the detective's home life, there's a very neat cat andmouse game between the detective and the leader of the terrorists (whohappens to be a blond woman) but of course the fact that the band ofterrorists are all frustrated musicians and that the act of terrorthey're spreading is musical based (they get together at variouslocations and "play" any object that's around--staging these veryperformance art like set pieces in areas and pretty much annoying theheck out of everyone who happens to be around) This movie is definitelyfar more original then any other cop movie is these days. (well anythat i can think of as of the time i'm writing this at least) Of coursenone of that originality wouldn't mean anything if the pacing of themovie weren't tight, or if the lead character's personal life weren'talso interesting, or if the suspense of what the detective is actuallygoing to do once he captures this band of terrorists (or even if hewants to capture them given his personal background) I have to give alot of credit to this movie for being pretty original in that even witha well worn format i still had little idea where the movie wasultimately going to go--and if the last ten or twenty minutes don'texactly play out the way you'd like them to--that's pretty OK becausequite honestly i'm not sure i could've come up with a better endingeither. (and really the more i think about it the more i quite like theending--it very much matches the tone and events of what came beforeand what we've come to know about the 2 leading characters throughoutthe movie) Will this movie hold up on repeat viewing? i'd like to thinkso--even if the frustrated musical terrorists ultimately becomeannoying---i really really really quite enjoyed the detective's backstory and how his back story plays into his need to capture this bandof terrorists. Its actually kind of a cute love story in a way, abizarre one, but definitely a cute one. About that background of thecop tho---when you read the following sentence--you're reaction to itshould indicate whether you'd be charmed or annoyed by this film. Thelead detective happens to not especially care for music because hecomes from a family of well known music lovers--his brother is aconductor for the local symphony while he himself is rather tone deafand clueless about what makes good music--so of course it should fallto him to stop this musical band of terrorists from spreading their ownbrand of "music" around town. I'm telling you right now--if that bit ofwhimsy makes you wanna hit your computer screen then this movie isdefinitely not for you--but then again what are you doing looking atthese user comments here in the first place if not to check this oneout a little bit???

Simonster

(2013-05-06 14:48:34)

Swedish madness!

Viewed at the Festival du Film, Cannes 2010Now that you've read the plot summary... Okay, a group of drummersterrorise a city with their daring musical 'raids' while a tone deaf,music hating, detective tries to track them down... The Sound of Noiseis the kind of dark comedic madness only the Scandinavians do so well:percussionists as musical terrorists laying down the beat for an entirecity.This is a conceit built around the musicians themselves, taking severalof their set-piece numbers and weaving them into a narrative structure.In this sense, seen as a film with the classic three act structure,story and character development etc., Sound of Noise is lesssuccessful. But as a showcase for amazing musical ability and sheerimagination, this film cannot be beaten.

heyjude540-368-302891

(2013-05-06 00:58:44)

Any drummer must see, if your not a drummer, see it anyway

As a musician this movie quickly caught my eye. When I finally saw it Ias in awe at the creativity this movie. That may just be the drummer inme coming out. When you here "Bonny and Clyde on Drums", you don'texpect the movie to be any good. But they executed this movie verywell. Most people who aren't into music just see it as a large versionof stomp, but it's more than that. There's emotion, action, and comedy.And the fact that the music is good make it even better. I can't seeanyone else creating a movie like this without the style and deliverythat this movie presented. The title says comedy, but it's so muchmore.

Skruttan

(2013-05-04 08:27:49)

Just Brilliant!

This movie is pure joy, musically and cinematically. Just the idea ofhaving six drummers as terrorists, using everyday objects asinstruments is so brilliant it doesn't even matter how good or bad themovie is. Fortunately this movie does great at both having an originalidea, great characters and beautiful cinematography. The musicalnumbers is of course awesome, but also the plot line involving thepoliceman Warnebring is brilliant. You really feel for the character,even if he starts of as the bad guy(kind of), and you also root for himsometimes, even though he tries to stop the musicians. This is anamazing movie experience that I can recommend for everyone who has aheart(cheesy,but true), and can enjoy great cinema.

evamadelon

(2013-05-04 00:18:38)

Brings new meaning to the term "Musical Comedy"

My husband and I saw this tonight at the Seattle International FilmFestival and we can't wait to be able to share it with our friends. Thestory is simple but endlessly creative: a group of musicians attempt tobring music to a city while a police officer attempts to get somemuch-needed peace and quiet.We enjoyed the touches of whimsy and magic and were increasinglyimpressed by each successive musical experiment. The dialogue, thevisual cues, and, yes, the music itself kept us riveted to the screen.The movie was received well by the audience, who rewarded it withhearty laughter in many places and a long round of applause at the end.This film can be appreciated by everyone, from the highly musical(myself) to the tone-deaf (my husband)!