Market it right, and you can get people to pay for literally anything these days. Especially in Manhattan.
That's why it's not especially shocking when, at the start of the "The Sound of Silence," the lead characters of Peter and Ellen meet because she's hired him to tune her apartment.
Yes, we said tune her apartment, and no, she doesn't live inside a piano. Peter (an excellent, excruciatingly sensitive Peter Sarsgaard) is a "home tuner," able to detect the imperceptible frequencies coming from, say, your refrigerator or toaster — which in turn are affecting your mood and behavior. Ellen is stressed and can't sleep, and friends have suggested that Peter, whose work has been written up in The New Yorker no less, can help.
So far, so good. We've all paid for things that sound much less sensible, and hey, The New Yorker!
The somewhat frustrating thing about "The Sound of Silence," a debut effort by director Michael Tyburski, who co-wrote the script with Ben Nabors, is not that we're asked to buy into this boldly quirky premise, but that we sometimes can't tell if the filmmakers themselves buy into it. There are moments in which the movie seems to veer decidedly toward self-knowing comedy but never quite gets there, and then turns so sad as to be tragic. The ambivalence becomes distracting, like so much white noise.
The lead performances, though, are compelling — both intelligent and vulnerable. In his lived-in tweed suit, Sarsgaard is moving as a dignified (and indignant) man utterly certain he's made a key breakthrough. If he's right, your aural environment — your neighborhood, your block, even your kitchen — determines how you feel and also the choices you make.
Peter traipses around the city with his tuning forks and his headphones, testing wind patterns in the park and making house calls. At Ellen's place, he lies on her bed to better recreate her morning routine, then gives the diagnosis: she needs to replace her toaster.
Peter certainly makes the lives of his clients better, helping them sleep or improving their love lives. But he craves hard-won recognition in the academic world, especially the honor of being published in the New American Journal of Sound. An old professor friend who pretends to support him (an entertainingly wry Austin Pendleton) proves a disappointing ally.
And the professor's assistant (Samuel Diaz), who offers logistical support, has his own self-advancing goals in mind. He suggests that Peter could monetize his knowledge. This isn't about commerce, Peter replies sharply.
Peter takes the same stance when offered an opportunity by a slick entrepreneur, the head of a company called Sensory Holdings, to make some money by selling an aurally pleasing atmosphere to clients. He doesn't want to sink that low.
Meanwhile, Ellen is getting more curious about Peter, finding his intensity somewhat seductive. For a while, we do too, especially when he explains that Bach and Beethoven, no less, used neurological techniques to impact their listeners that went unnoticed at the time.
But even Ellen has to draw the line somewhere, and she can't quite stomach the certainty with which he tells her that her apartment is emitting the musical note of C Minor, "a sign of resignation," and that unseen forces are governing her choices.
"It's getting late," she replies wearily, preferring to keep believing that she has some control over her life.
There's a devastating scene in which Peter encounters an academic idol (Tina Benko), a leading specialist in the field of sound, and asks if she has seen the work he sent her. Her withering response could send a dagger through the heart of anyone who's ever dreamed a dream or submitted an article or even handed in a term paper.
At this point, and a few others, we could use a little comic relief, perhaps just a hint of self-aware humor — even if just to add dimension to a film, originally developed from a short, that is just a bit too monochromatic (second dictionary definition: "of a single wavelength or frequency") to hold our interest for the long haul.
"The Sound of Silence," an IFC Films release, is unrated by the Motion Picture Association of America. Running time: 85 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.
Follow Jocelyn Noveck on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/JocelynNoveckAP
WASHINGTON (AP) — Israel this week briefed Biden administration officials on a plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians ahead of a potential operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah aimed at rooting out Hamas militants, according to U.S. officials familiar with the talks.
The officials, who were not authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity to speak about the sensitive exchange, said that the plan detailed by the Israelis did not change the U.S. administration’s view that moving forward with an operation in Rafah would put too many innocent Palestinian civilians at risk.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to carry out a military operation in Rafah despite warnings from President Joe Biden and other western officials that doing so would result in more civilian deaths and worsen an already dire humanitarian crisis.
The Biden administration has said there could be consequences for Israel should it move forward with the operation without a credible plan to safeguard civilians.
“Absent such a plan, we can’t support a major military operation going into Rafah because the damage it would do is beyond what’s acceptable,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said late Friday at the Sedona Forum, an event in Arizona hosted by the McCain Institute.
Some 1.5 million Palestinians have sheltered in the southern Gaza city as the territory has been ravaged by the war that began on Oct. 7 after Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages.
The United Nations humanitarian aid agency on Friday said that hundreds of thousands of people would be “at imminent risk of death” if Israel moves forward with the Rafah assault. The border city is a critical entry point for humanitarian aid and is filled with displaced Palestinians, many in densely packed tent camps.
The officials added that the evacuation plan that the Israelis briefed was not finalized and both sides agreed to keep discussing the matter.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Friday that no “comprehensive” plan for a potential Rafah operation has been revealed by the Israelis to the White House. The operation, however, has been discussed during recent calls between Biden and Netanyahu as well as during recent virtual talks with top Israeli and U.S. national security officials.
“We want to make sure that those conversations continue because it is important to protect those Palestinian lives — those innocent lives,” Jean-Pierre said.
The revelation of Israel's continued push to carry out a Rafah operation came as CIA director William Burns arrived Friday in Egypt, where negotiators are trying to seal a cease-fire accord between Israel and Hamas.
Hamas is considering the latest proposal for a cease-fire and hostage release put forward by U.S., Egyptian and Qatari mediators, who are looking to avert the Rafah operation.
They have publicly pressed Hamas to accept the terms of the deal that would lead to an extended cease-fire and an exchange of Israeli hostages taken captive on Oct. 7 and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Hamas has said it will send a delegation to Cairo in the coming days for further discussions on the offer, though it has not specified when.
Israel, and its allies, have sought to increase pressure on Hamas on the hostage negotiation. Signaling that Israel continues to move forward with its planning for a Rafah operation could be a tactic to nudge the militants to finalize the deal.
Netanyahu said earlier this week that Israeli forces would enter Rafah, which Israel says is Hamas’ last stronghold, regardless of whether a truce-for-hostages deal is struck. His comments appeared to be meant to appease his nationalist governing partners, and it was not clear whether they would have any bearing on any emerging deal with Hamas.
Blinken visited the region, including Israel, this week and called the latest proposal “extraordinarily generous” and said “the time to act is now.”
In Arizona on Friday, Blinken repeated remarks he made earlier this week that "the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a cease-fire is Hamas.”
The Chahine family prepares to bury two adults and five boys and girls under the age of 16 after an overnight Israeli strike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, May 3, 2024. An Israeli strike on the city of Rafah on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip killed several people, including children, hospital officials said Friday. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)
FILE - Palestinians line up for free food during the ongoing Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip in Rafah, Jan. 9, 2024. A top U.N. official said Friday, May 3, 2024, that hard-hit northern Gaza was now in “full-blown famine" after more than six months of war between Israel and Hamas and severe Israeli restrictions on food deliveries to the Palestinian territory. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali, File)
Palestinians rescue a woman survived after the Israeli bombardment on a residential building of Abu Alenan family in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, early Saturday, May 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)
President Joe Biden walks across the South Lawn of the White House as he talks with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Washington, after returning from a trip to North Carolina. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
