Film Review: Noise (2022) by Ryuichi Hiroki

Fresh from his Netflix success with “Ride or Die”, a film that everyone seems to have seen for different reasons, Ryuichi Hiroki continues his exploration of the concept of crime and punishment in a completely different setting, the closed community of a small fictional island.

“Noise” is screening at Udine Far East Film Festival

The story is adapted from the homonymous manga by Tetsuya Tsutsui and begins with a middle-aged local driving a stranger around the island, before the latter strangles him for no apparent reason. A bit later, the stranger ends up in the property of Keita Izumi, the “star of the island”, since his black figs are about to feature on a TV program that also comes with a big government grant that will help the declining economy of the area. The first interaction ends up without any happenings, but soon Keita's daughter disappears. The aggravated father seeks the help of his friend Jun, and another local, Shinichiro, who has just taken up the position of the sole policeman of the island. The second interaction with the stranger, however, which includes all three aforementioned men, ends up in tragedy for the newcomer, who is accidentally killed. The three friends decide to hide the body and keep the whole thing a secret, but things become more complicate when the local political leader, Hanae, is involved, and even more so when a group of detectives headed by Tsutomu, arrive to investigate the disappearance of what seems to be, a serial killer.

Ryuichi Hiroki presents a very interesting crime movie, “exploiting” the close ties people in small, remote societies usually share in order to present a case that also highlights the exact opposite, with the faults deriving from such a setting also coming to the fore. In that fashion, the problems with the aging population, gossip, jealousy, the intently goal-oriented mentality of the politicians, and the grudges that never go away are also presented in all their glory, adding much to the overall context here. Furthermore, they also function as the source of a series of philosophical comments about human nature, through the crime and punishment prism. These comments are implemented in a fashion that makes the main case even more intricate, while also including a distinct sense of tragic irony that becomes rather palpable close to the end, as the main source of drama here.

Probably the most impressive aspect of the film is the cast and particularly the male actors. Tatsuya Fujiwara as Keita gives an unusually measured performance, despite the fact that he seems on the verge of overreacting almost constantly. Kenichi Matsuyama as the moody introvert Jun is excellent, with the same applying to Masatoshi Nagase's rather noir-appearing detective Tsutomu, who acts utterly cool most of the time, thus making the moments he loses his cool quite impactful. Add to those the presence of Susumu Terajima and Akira Emoto in small secondary roles, and the quality of the cast becomes even more apparent. Regarding the women actors, the one who steals the show is Kimiko Yo in the role of Hanae, with her theatrical monologue being one of the best moments of the whole film.

DP Atsuhiro Nabeshima uses extreme long shots a number of times in order to highlight the beauties and the overall idyllic premises of the island, thus creating an intriguing antithesis with what is happening in the story. The editing results in a relatively leisure pace that fits the way of life of such settings, although, once more, the lagging towards the end, that extends the duration of the film to 128 minutes with no apparent reason, raises its ugly head. Hiroki does his best to dull this issue, by placing another twist almost to the finale, but the “damage” is already done beforehand, although not to a point to ruin the general sense the movie emits as a whole.

Despite some of the regular faults of Japanese movies, “Noise” is an interesting, entertaining crime film that will satisfy all fans of the genre.