Beautiful Noise

2014

Documentary / Music

2
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 79% · 1 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 79% · 50 ratings
IMDb Rating 6.6/10 10 514 514

shoegaze

Plot summary

BEAUTIFUL NOISE is an in-depth exploration of a music movement in the late twentieth century, a fascinating period when some innovative musicians mixed guitar noise into conventional pop song structures while maintaining a philosophy of letting the music speak for itself. Although many of the people interviewed are notoriously press shy they have opened up about their music and experiences from over 20 years ago, how they defied the rules and became sonic innovators that have inspired so many.

Director

Eric Green Photo
Eric Green

Top cast

Trent Reznor Photo
Trent Reznor as Self
Brad Laner Photo
Brad Laner as Self
Bobby Gillespie Photo
Bobby Gillespie as Self
Andy Bell Photo
Andy Bell as Self
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
794.46 MB
1280*720
English 2.0
NR
29.97 fps
1 hr 26 min
Seeds 7
1.59 GB
1920*1080
English 5.1
NR
29.97 fps
1 hr 26 min
Seeds 17

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by kelligravano 7 / 10

Good, but could have been better

Beautiful Noise is a well done documentary on a very specific type of music. I call it dream pop, some call it shoe gaze. All the bands documented are excellent, but I would have liked to hear about all the fans who came to their shows! There are no interviews from every day non famous fans. Also the bands do not talk about touring which to me is an important part of being in a band. There was so much going on in the early 90s cultural landscape, but there isn't too much mentioned about that. My favorite band Curve only gets a minute of mention. There was no mention about how different their music was and how bands like Garbage were influenced by Toni Halliday and Dean Garcia's music skills. I liked this film and watched it three times to get an idea of what more I would have liked to see.
Reviewed by rettercritical 8 / 10

IMPORTANT FILM - don't listen to the anal reviews

I was actually skeptical about this film when I saw the trailer and crowdfunding campaign. I had the usual worry of what they would cover in the film and what they would leave out. Some of the talking heads in the trailer were not really of this scene (a bunch of Americans!), so I was ready to yawn and roll eyes. But luckily they were people inspired by UK noise, that although more well-known than the shoegazers themselves, were there as supporting cast rather than the leads. Its quite surreal having massive pop-stars like Robert Smith talking about this much smaller music from a listener's point of view.So its a vague scene for starters. I mean, where do we say "noise" started? Well, I think its OK to draw the line somewhere and just say it was Britain in 1980. Of course we know about the Velvet Underground and earlier - but this really is about "shoegaze" music (in the late 80s - early 90s), which openly revived the kinds of texture The Velvets and others explored in industrial music, but sometimes with new technology.So the lead players are really The Cocteau Twins, Jesus And Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine. Three hugely influential pillars of popular rock music that didn't really sell a lot of music. What this film does best is just let the musicians, engineers and studio heads speak for themselves. And what you get is not every piece of the sprawling puzzle (snobs wake-up, its impossible to explain everything about a decade of fuzzy music in one film) but a great overview of how the musicians felt about what they were doing and who influenced them. This is supported by bigger known American artists who sight these groups as influential to them.The film doesn't have the structure and production value of something like a slick authorised Rolling Stones documentary - but thank goodness it doesn't. This was obviously a labor of love and the filmmakers obviously cared about the subject or all the significant artists wouldn't have contributed to it. A Rolling Stones (or any other big group) documentary is an authorised product these days, which means they get to cut out anything embarrassing and basically create a piece of advertising/propaganda to keep the legacy (business) going. Watch a John Lennon documentary and Yoko as the head of the Lennon estate will make sure you never know about John's previous wife.This is definitely worth seeking out and surprisingly good.
Reviewed by Screen_O_Genic 8 / 10

Stare at Them Shoes

Moody, dreamy, noisy, loud, gentle, feminine, insular, withdrawn, antisocial; Shoegaze was an anomaly in the glitzy and colorful Rock scene of the late 1980s - early 1990s when it emerged as a maligned and misunderstood oddball who nevertheless was impossible to ignore. With its nerdy outcast-looking band members who stood on stage and stared at their shoes (hence the name) while creating and conjuring whirlpools of ear-numbing noise the scene certainly wasn't primed for the big time but it's unique appeal left a lasting legacy that endures to this day. "Beautiful Noise" covers that crucial period in Rock history when the tide turned and the changing of the guard ushered a new and far superior phase in Rock with Shoegaze right in the middle of it. The genre's luminaries like Cocteau Twins, My Bloody Valentine and Ride are given their proper space while stars like Robert Smith, Trent Reznor and Bily Corgan share their memories and views on the music's profound impact on them. Historic footage of the band's are shown highlighting the blistering and deafening power of the music. The film could have been better if the roots of the genre were shown (basically the bands are Velvet Underground offshoots) and the presentation of the bands less chapter-like. Nevertheless it's good to see a well-done doc on the fascinating and influential genre. May there be more to come.
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