I believe a majority of people who watch Noiseman will enjoy it, but I doubt it will make too many avid fans. The plot is a little too complex for the alloted time. It doesn`t flow quite as effortlessly as Comedy. Following the rushed developments of the first third of the movie is a bit of a chore.
Noiseman remains accessible despite the early hiccup because its story is completely unpretentious. It never tries to drill an emotion or a philosophical perspective. It`s just a pure, albeit very strange story. The appeal is the novelty in the premise, audio, and visuals.
The animation in Noiseman is very solid, somewhere between the quality one would expect from a TV series and a feature film. 4C as usual, delivers on the atmospheric and creative aspect of the visuals. The setting is a vibrantly colored slum that looks like a cross between Tekkon Kinkreet and Tweeny Witches. Noiseman's himself, as well as his gadgets have cute, but out-of-this-world designs and some of the later scenes step into drug-induced delusion territory. Spinning textures and white backgrounds show a whimsy that stretches beyond Willie Wonka, or even other Studio 4C productions.
A name like Noiseman brings up a certain expectation for the sound. This aspect is perhaps the most impressive of the short. Noiseman contains some pieces that are no more than vaguely musical sounding noise, some that resemble tribal beats, and some fast paced techno stuff. What`s amazing is how perfectly the music is timed with this film. There is some sort of music playing for the whole duration, and considering how radically different the musical pieces are from each other, it`s amazing how smooth the transitions are. The quick techno beats always come in just as a scene gets exciting. Musical pauses are used to dramatic effect. The music on a scene to scene basis is perfectly matched with the animation, and as a whole, the general messiness in all of the tracks is a great match for the setting.
There`s usually something wrong when novelty is one of the greatest assets of a film. Because Noiseman is but 15 minutes, its novel charm has no problem lasting the entire duration. Beyond that simple strangeness that is so amusing, Noiseman has a solid story that is elevated by the visual and audio experience it provides.
