Irish writer-director Pat Collins's ideas-driven drama takes us on a very quiet journey into sound
Here's a carefully sustained experiment from Irish writer-director Pat Collins, aiming to turn cinemagoers away from gawping and back towards sustained listening. The bulk of Silence bombards us with the findings of a heartbroken soundman (Eoghan Mac Giolla Bhride) as he snuggles up to his boom mic in a bid to record pure silence in the countryside – a project invariably compromised by chuffing trains or locals clomping over to ask what's going on. More so than The Conversation, it's dense with ideas sourced from sonic theory (is silence radical or conservative, normative or a break from the norm?), but its thesis doesn't preclude songs, wry sound gags, and even an unexpected tension as we're cued to consider whether the protagonist's ideal actually exists. Anyone caught trying to smuggle in popcorn should obviously be taken...
Here's a carefully sustained experiment from Irish writer-director Pat Collins, aiming to turn cinemagoers away from gawping and back towards sustained listening. The bulk of Silence bombards us with the findings of a heartbroken soundman (Eoghan Mac Giolla Bhride) as he snuggles up to his boom mic in a bid to record pure silence in the countryside – a project invariably compromised by chuffing trains or locals clomping over to ask what's going on. More so than The Conversation, it's dense with ideas sourced from sonic theory (is silence radical or conservative, normative or a break from the norm?), but its thesis doesn't preclude songs, wry sound gags, and even an unexpected tension as we're cued to consider whether the protagonist's ideal actually exists. Anyone caught trying to smuggle in popcorn should obviously be taken...
- 8/8/2013
- by Mike McCahill
- The Guardian - Film News
★★★★☆ Poetic in form yet piercingly haunting in function, Pat Collins' Silence (2012) is a truly absorbing sensory experience. Imbuing documentary-style filmmaking with a contemplative narrative about identity, Collins has fashioned a mournful allegory for humanity's inherent desire to return to our roots and bathe in cherished memories and the simplicity of youth. Eoghan (Eoghan Mac Giolla Bhride) is a sound recorder living in Berlin who receives a job offer which requires him to return to Ireland and capture samples of natural sound - free from the audio fingerprints of the man-made noises which punctuate everyday life.
It's a chance for Eoghan to reconnect with his past, and whilst his voyage for solitude is persistently disrupted by the reverberations of globalisation (whether it be the sound of distant traffic, an industrial rock-breaker or an inquisitive local), our protagonist's numerous encounters offer a refreshing new perspective on his own existence. Silence is...
It's a chance for Eoghan to reconnect with his past, and whilst his voyage for solitude is persistently disrupted by the reverberations of globalisation (whether it be the sound of distant traffic, an industrial rock-breaker or an inquisitive local), our protagonist's numerous encounters offer a refreshing new perspective on his own existence. Silence is...
- 8/7/2013
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Cork-born filmmaker Pat Collins has made a name for himself directing factual documentaries. Now as he releases his debut feature 'Silence, he talks to Iftn. 'Silence' is a South Wind Blows and Harvest Films Production. The feature was directed by Pat Collins from a script by Collins, Eoghan Mac Giolla Bhride and Sharon Whooley. It was edited by Tadhg O'Sullivan (About Beauty), with Richard Kendrick (An Crisis) as director of photography. Tina Moran was the producer.
- 7/24/2012
- IFTN
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