Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Tayloriona Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Ash Whiting Not a bad effort. However, it would have greatly benefited from featuring a lot more of the bands who were influenced by the original wave. It suffered slightly from only really talking about the main players in this "scene" - Not that it ever really was one, outside of the music press.Would have been nice in the last half hour, rather than it kind of petering out, to feature the new wave. People who have been influenced by it. More than just a name on a screen and a couple of photos.Having said this, it's lovely to see some interviews with Guthrie, Kevin Shields, etc and to get their take on the goings on back then.Not really sure about the addition of Billy Corgan and Trent Reznor though. Never really considered their music either influenced by, or relevant to, these bands.Maybe they needed them. Just in case the American Market didn't understand the point of the doc... Seemed pointless to me. The sort of people who will watch this doc are the sort of people who don't need Billy Corgan spoon feeding them what they already know. It just came across as mildly patronising to be honest.In fact, you could argue that the American Bands of the time kind of ruined it all in the eyes of the music press. Smashing Pumpkins, kind of being one of the bands that caused the press backlash in the first place.Kind of ironic. That.Oh. And lovely to see that old git Alan McGee churning out his "Loveless is overrated" tirade yet again.No mate. You are just bitter that they didn't want a drug addict ruining their buzz in the studio. And it cost you a few quid.Still. Less than you ever spent on drugs. And nowhere near the amount you pretended it cost to perpetrate your sad, mad, self-mythologising. So there's that.God if I have to hear that wizened old man saying that again, I'll kill myself. He didn't support these bands. He let them flounder, and as Kevin Shields rightly said, "He was just a drug addict who didn't understand what we were trying to do"Yup.Still. I waited a long time for this to surface. I paid me money and was happy to see some of the more obscure bands mentioned (Flying Saucer Attack, Pale Saints) amongst the others.So all in all, if you like these bands. This won't tell you anything you don't already know. It'll preach to the converted. But I give it a 7 because this doc shone a light on an otherwise overlooked scene that meant a lot to me when I was a kid.And you can shout "F**k off McGee, you utter, utter twit" at the telly whenever he comes on.Also. Bobby Gillespie. Nah. Never took that wee chancer seriously, either.Some good live footage I'd not seen before too. So hooray for that.

myownventricle I was ridiculously excited for this documentary, which features some of my all-time favorite bands. I bought the blu-ray (as I didn't know how else to see it) and turned it on feeling giddy as a fervert young chappy. And very soon it became disappointingly clear that this was not the documentary I'd been waiting for.If you are familiar with these bands you will learn nothing new and most of the interviews are cheek-slappingly banal. And even if they weren't, the cinematography is distractingly subpar: bad lighting, often out of focus, low definition. Why in the heavens is there a blu-ray edition if nothing was shot on HD!? Crappy SD footage will not look better on a blu-ray, but it sure costs more to the excited fans/suckers! I essentially felt that I would have derived a richer experience surfing YouTube watching old interviews and live performances of the bands, as I'm sure I could find higher quality and more interesting clips that weren't either far too brief or featured for way too long.And for a documentary about the shoegaze movement, the word "shoegaze" is never uttered, just "this period" and "these bands." I essentially felt more informed than the filmmakers.I feel that the shoegaze movement was one of the most fascinating periods of music history and deeply deserves a fresh, beautiful, illuminating documentary. Sadly, this is not it.

timo-reimann After months of anticipation, BN is finally available for download! As a long-time fan of the early dream pop, and having read all the great comments on Facebook, I had pretty high expectations for this film. Unfortunately, the film is bit of a let-down from my perspective. I had hoped for an in-depth look into the music and history. (I.e. cultural landscape, influences, studio techniques etc.), but instead, the film is comprised mostly of light interviews and a bit of old footage. Considering this thing was 10 years in the making, the filmmaker seems to have done very little research, or made any attempt to build a connection with the artists. I appreciate the ambitions here to cover a big spectrum of the music, but spending 2-5 minutes on each band definitely left me wanting more. He would have been better off focusing on one or two artists, like last year's "Made of Stone", which I enjoyed very much. The other issue I have with this film is the shallow interviewing. It seems that everyone who appears in the film was asked the same questions: When did you first hear about the band, and why do you like them? I would have learnt more if the artists were asked about their favourite food and colour :) This film is worth a viewing for anyone new to the genre, but any hard-core fan like myself will already be well familiar with the band chronology, and the music's dreamy, ethereal quality :/

John Peterson Beautiful Noise is an amazingly intelligent, thorough, and detailed film that chronicles the formation of a style of music that many refer to as Shoegaze. The term Shoegaze was originally coined by a talentless hack of a "journalist", and was meant to disparage the lack of showmanship employed by these bands who preferred to let the music speak for itself, instead of prancing around on stage.The film does an excellent job of introducing us to the bands responsible for the birth of the genre, like the Jesus and Marychain, My Bloody Valentine, and the Cocteau Twins. They didn't set out to start a movement, they simply wanted to play THEIR music, but their unique style ended up having an influence on many other musicians.What they started, developed into a more cohesive movement in the late 80s and early 90s, with British bands like Ride, Catherine Wheel, Slowdive, and Chapterhouse using heavily effected guitar sounds and an overall mood that was influenced by the bands mentioned earlier.Beautiful Noise follows the chronology of the movement to weave an entertaining story and includes many rare interviews with members of the most important bands of the genre. There is also some excellent input from a few legendary musicians from outside the movement, like Robert Smith, Trent Reznor, and Billy Corgan, all of whom are fans, and most likely influenced these bands in some form, as well.Beautiful Noise never actually mentions the name "Shoegaze", and most of these bands would probably never consider calling themselves "Shoegaze". For me the term is merely a convenient way of grouping a bunch of bands that have obvious similarities. I like taking back the power of the word.If you're a fan of the genre or any of the bands in the film, Beautiful Noise is a must. If you are interested in music on any level, then Beautiful Noise is a must. It would be an wonderful introduction to this music if you have always been interested but never really listened to any of the bands. The film does such a fantastic job of capturing the essence and spirit of the movement and detailing the motivation and driving force behind the artists.I was lucky enough to see Beautiful Noise at a festival in Hollywood, and it's a shame more people haven't had a chance to see it yet. I can't wait for it to come out on Blu-Ray so I can watch it again and again.