Noise (2007)

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A Melbourne police officer with impaired hearing tries to take control of his social and professional life in this drama from Australian writer-director Matthew Saville. On the same night that a grisly train shooting takes half a dozen lives, patrolman Graham McGahan (Brendan Cowell) collapses on a… More A Melbourne police officer with impaired hearing tries to take control of his social and professional life in this drama from Australian writer-director Matthew Saville. On the same night that a grisly train shooting takes half a dozen lives, patrolman Graham McGahan (Brendan Cowell) collapses on a nearby escalator -- just the latest symptom of his tinnitus, a medical condition characterized by a high-pitched ringing in the ears. Considered damaged goods, McGahan is shipped off to the night shift in a police trailer set up in a sleepy suburb; he's essentially the on-duty secretary should anyone come forward with news about a different case, involving a murdered local girl. Steadily entrenching himself in this unusual community, yet frustrated by both the desk job and his growing disconnect with reality, McGahan takes it out by arguing with his live-in girlfriend (Katie Wall). Meanwhile, the lone surviving witness of the train attack (Maia Thomas) starts believing that if the gunman left her alive, it wasn't for long. As the seemingly unrelated cases intertwine and McGahan both seeks his purpose and loses his grip, the killer sends the message that he's still lurking. Noise, which uses its sound design to examine its central theme, had its world premiere at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi