Writer/Director Tamara Scherbak’s (with co-writer Christina Saliba) short indie thriller “White Noise” is a weird, and twisted film, and one that reminded me a lot of “Black Mirror” in the end. It’s a movie about madness and over stimulation that ends up driving a young woman to the brink of insanity. One of the things that I quite enjoyed about “White Noise” is that it plays on such an unusual element in anxiety.
“White Noise” follows college student Ava, who suffers from an extreme hyper-sensitivity to sound. When this reaches new terrifying heights, her doctor enrolls her in an experimental trial involving an anechoic chamber: the world’s quietest room. Hoping to cure her affliction, she gets more than she bargained for.
Overstimulation is a surefire sign of anxiety and mental illness, but Ava is experiencing a sensitivity to hearing that she’s sure indicates something so much deeper going on. There’s never an indication as to what is driving Ava mad and what is affecting her hearing; there’s a surefire allusion toward mental illness, but there’s also the potential that something else might be hiding under the surface. One thing that Tamara Sherbak touches on well is our sometimes inability to cope with the world around us and the sensory overload that can make living impossible for us.
The sound design by Sylvain Bellemare is absolutely fantastic as character Ava experiences sheer horror at every click and flick and whistle, and has no idea how to cope with her elements. Star Bahia Watson is great in her leading role, portraying the sadly unraveling Ava who is anxious to learn what it is like without her world and sound pollution. Once she steps in to the anechoic chamber, she gets so much more than she bargained for. “White Noise” is a stellar short thriller, and one that really touches on the idea of insanity and how sometimes it only takes a little nudge to push us over the edge.
This year the Fantasia International Film Festival runs from July 20th to August 9th at Montreal.