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Noise

Name: Noise
Director: Kim Soo-jin
Released: 2025
Duration: 95 min

Representation Score

8.5/10

Excellent

2025

Director

Kim Soo-jin

Runtime

95 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

Kim Soo-jin’s debut uses the domestic setting of an apartment to explore isolation through a unique sensory lens. By centering a protagonist with a hearing impairment, the film subverts horror clichés that typically rely on sound as a reliable source of truth. The film excels in its portrayal of disability, integrating Ju-young's sensory experience into the core mechanics of the mystery. This approach avoids superficiality, instead using her perspective to heighten the psychological dread of the unexplained noises. While the film maintains a culturally specific and largely homogeneous cast, it provides strong social commentary on urban alienation. It effectively transforms the modern apartment complex into a symbol of systemic isolation and communal breakdown.

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Category Breakdown

Does Noise have LGBTQ+ representation?

Fair

The story revolves around a sibling relationship and a central mystery. There are no clear LGBTQ+ characters or representations of non-straight relationships.

How does Noise portray gender?

Good

Ju-young plays a significant role as a female protagonist. She avoids traditional damsel-in-distress clichés by actively investigating her sister's disappearance in a home turned dangerous place.

How racially and ethnically diverse is Noise?

Fair

As a South Korean production, the film presents a culturally specific perspective. The cast is primarily homogeneous, reflecting a typical local cultural context.

How does Noise represent religion and culture?

Good

The film critiques modern urban life and the instability of social institutions. It uses inter-floor noise as a metaphor for the breakdown of community in capitalist structures.

Does Noise include disability representation?

Excellent

The protagonist's hearing impairment is central to the tension. This sensory disability complicates her interactions with the environment, providing a unique perspective on the film's auditory horror.

Present on Screen

The protagonist's hearing impairment is a central, meaningful narrative component rather than a mere plot device.
The film challenges gendered clichés by giving the female lead intellectual and physical ability to act.
Strong social commentary on urban alienation and the breakdown of modern community structures.

Limited or Absent

The cast and cultural perspective remain largely homogeneous.
There is a lack of explicit representation for LGBTQ+ identities or narratives.

Official Synopsis

Ju-young is a young woman with a hearing impediment who decides to investigate her sister's inexplicable disappearance, last seen in her apartment. Feeling more and more cornered, Ju-young begins to hear strange sounds and sense an evil presence in the apartment.

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