Synopsis
Director Brad ANDERSON gained attention by directing Session 9 a movie based in a mental hospital. Episode 4 of Masters of Horror Season 2 is about the tragic fear that a man suffers along with paranoia. Larry who is managing software AS service in a call center is sensitive to sound. He can hear the most quiet sound ever imaginable and even detect by sound that his son has an illness. However, after the death of his son, Larry goes insane gradually, getting sensitive to all sorts of sound around him more and more. Sounds Like which deals with sound paranoia is about physiological horror. It is never easy to describe physiological horror. It requires not only directing genius but also acting performance good enough to lead viewers to sympathize with director's intention. In such a sense, Sounds Like is only half a success. Larry shows his special sense on and on from the beginning to the end. In the meanwhile, the description of the pain that Larry suffers after running into a library to escape from the torturing sound is outstanding. It is impressive to see the noises generated by pages being turned and pencils being chewed suffocating Larry, but, the rest of the movie is not good. An hour-long exaggeration of noise without considerable change drives even viewers to have paranoia. It is surely understandable how Larry and his wife collapse psychologically at wit's end not knowing to cure their pain after losing their son. However, to make it more persuasive in a consistent manner, the film should have been more flexible, which is missing in Sounds Like . The film showed a horror movie-like visual once toward the end for a change, but, it was a bit too late to lead viewers to expect any surprise when they were already able to predict the end. The virtue of Sounds Like is indirect experience. In other words, viewers can feel the same mental pain that Larry suffers, going insane under the blanket bombardment of daily life noise around him. It is fine that the director intended so. If not, he must face viewers complaining of boredom. (KIM Jong Chul)