Das weiße Rauschen
Tags: psychological

Plot synopsis:
Jonathan Rivers (Michael Keaton) is a successful architect and lives a peaceful life with his wife Anna (Chandra West) until her unexpected disappearance. Eventually, he is contacted by Raymond Price (Ian McNeice), who claims that his own son had also died. He says he has recorded messages from Anna through electronic voice phenomena (EVP). While Jonathan is initially dismissive and angered, he later learns about his wife's tragic drowning. Desperate, he begins to believe that the recorded voice is indeed that of his wife. Jonathan becomes obsessed with trying to contact her himself, despite warnings from a psychic, Mirabelle Keegan (Keegan Connor Tracy), who tries to tell him how the recording can attract other, unwanted entities. A woman named Sarah Tate (Deborah Kara Unger), who also came to Raymond for his EVP work because she lost her fiancé, befriends Jonathan.
Raymond is found dead. Jonathan begins to be followed by three demons attracted by his obsession with EVP, and finds that some of the messages he is coming across are from people who are not yet dead, but may soon be. Jonathan hears cries from a woman whom he finds in a car with a child. He is able to save the child, but not the woman. At that woman's funeral, which Jonathan and Sarah both attend, Jonathan approaches the husband and tells him about what happened. The latter thanks Jonathan for saving his son but then asks to be left alone. The husband continues to tell Jonathan to stay away from him and his family. Afterwards, Jonathan sees images of another person, a missing woman named Mary Freeman, while working with his EVP devices. Sarah is later seriously injured by a fall from a balcony while possessed by the demons, that incident which was foreshadowed by Sarah's image being among those on the EVP devices.
Jonathan locates the site of his wife's death by following signs on recordings and he also finds his wife's abandoned car. Jonathan finds a set of computers and electronic equipment on site. A construction worker (Mitchell Kosterman) from his company, who has been doing his own EVP work, is holding Mary captive. He has been under the control of the demons to kill all these people, including Anna. The three demons torture Jonathan by breaking his arms and legs and cause him to fall to his death, but a SWAT team along with Detective Smits (Mike Dopud) arrives and are able to save Mary by shooting the construction worker dead. After his funeral, Jonathan's voice can be heard on the radio through static interference saying "I'm sorry" to his son. The child recognizes the voice and smiles. Sarah, at the graveside in a wheelchair, is menaced by odd noises. And right before the credits roll in, the camera flashes to a TV where Jonathan and his wife are visible.

Review: Gives "A Beautiful Mind" a run for the money. Normally I'm not particularly fond of movies about mental illness and I hate it when an actor automatically gets an Academy Award just because he plays another autistic person or Alzheimer patient. "Das weisse Rauschen" is the exception to the rule. In this film you really get an insight into the mind of a paranoid schizophrenic (played brilliantly by Daniel Brühl - he deserves every award that he got already or will get in the future), because it is so well researched that it appears 100% authentic (the director studied neurology).And yet the film does not become a clinical case study, but tells an interesting story about a young man, Lukas, who moves to Cologne to share a flat with his older sister Kati (Anabelle Lachatte) and her friend Jochen. At first everything is going fine; they spend their days taking drugs and having fun, but when he abandons his university studies on the first day just because he can't find the enrolment office and when a date with a girl goes a little bit wrong ;-) the audience begins to suspect that there's something wrong with Lukas. After the schizophrenia first breaks out, the movie becomes a very intense experience (similar to the films of Darren Aronofsky or even to "Das Experiment"), because on the sound track you hear the same cacophony of voices that begin to torment Lukas.Without exception the acting is great. Anabelle Lachatte's character (sexy as hell, but very down-to-earth) may be the worst help a "madman" can get, but it's always clear that she loves her brother and would do anything to help him. Katharina Schüttler in her small role is as good as always. The cinematography has the look and feel of a "Dogma film", but for once it didn't make me dizzy.All in all, I would say that in comparison to "A Beautiful Mind", "Das weisse Rauschen" is the better film ... much better.. Wow. "Das weiße Rauschen" is probably the first movie that succeeded in giving its audience insight into the tortured mind of a schizophrenic person. "A Beautiful Mind" hammed up the subject by combining it with a love story and mystery elements. This movie, however, is real. So real, that it's hard to watch at times. Director Hans Weingartner makes great usage of Dogma-style camera and avoids all movie clichés. With only a small cast and a low budget this movie comes as close to reality as it gets. It helps us understand this terrible sickness and its victims - the sick person himself, as well as his relatives and friends - without palliating anything. The whole cast is fantastic. Daniel Brühl's performance is just breath taking. He's probably the best German actor at the moment and definitely headed for an international career. All in all, "Das weiße Rauschen" is one of the best German movies I've seen so far. If you can get your hands on it, watch it!. OK to watch once. In short: The movie is about Lukas, a boy who moves from his grandparents to Cologne where his older sister lives with her boyfriend. The three take some drugs and out of a sudden Lukas hears multiple voices in his head. After a suicide attempt he is discharged of psychiatry. The voices return as he stops taking his medication. So far, that's the main plot. I was very disappointed, because I have heard so many good critics. Let's start with the positive aspects: The movie is very real, plain and simple shot to make its point. The effects of the voices are great if you own a Dolby surround receiver with 5.1 speakers. The mental illness is supposed to be delivered in its natural form. This works great, but after some time it gets boring. Very well woven is the relationship to his sister. The negative parts: The story is too flat. I expected some insights into the illness itself, some more advice of the psychiatrist, multiple outbursts in different domains. It would have been more interesting watching the protagonist getting healed by the time or how he gets his life together, finds a girlfriend, gets a real job. By the way, has anything to do in his leisure time, some kind of hobby? He seems pretty much in puberty, only drinking, listening to music, driving car etc.But the main mistake this movie does are the hints given, WHY all this happens. Herety is an important factor for mental illnesses, as well as drug consume. It all doesn't fit together. And instead of showing the options what one could improve or how Lukas learns to cope with his illness they relied on a romantic, Hollywood-like, pathetic ending which doesn't enlist the possibilities one could have with this mental state.If you expect a movie about a teenager and his problems in a well conveyed style don't hesitate and go see "Das weisse Rauschen". What you won't get is information about the aetiology, the progress, proper treatment or realistic perspective of schizophrenia.. Brühl's finest perhaps. "Das weiße Rauschen" or "The White Sound" is a German 100-minute movie from 15 years ago and one of the movies that won lead actor Daniel Brühl a German Film Award that year. I have a bit of a hate-love relationship with him as he seems to have a tendency to go over the top on some occasions in failed attempts to not appear very similar when playing very different characters. There are a couple lauded performances by him that did not work for me at all. But here he is outstanding and it is probably between his Golden-Globe nominated turn in "Rush" and this one here what is his career-best so far, at least in terms of what I have seen from him. He plays Lukas here, a very sensitive character who becomes a schizophrenic after a mushroom trip. The film basically shows us the impact this trip had on his life and how his sister helps him in becoming "normal" again. Will she succeed? Watch for yourself.I thought Brühl was pretty impressive here. Luckily for him, the material allows him to go over the top once again here and it still seems credible. The cinema scene is possibly the best scene from 2001 that I have seen. Really memorable stuff. The female there, by the way, is played by Katharina Schüttler, one of Germany's most known actresses today still fairly early in her career. Apart from her and Brühl, nobody from the cast here is really known anymore today. But writer and director Hans Weingartner sure is. He has a couple more famous movie under his belt. Sadly I cannot say I know about his co-director and co-writer Tobias Amann. So yeah, overall, even if this film may have moments that feel embarrassingly funny, it is 100% drama and a fairly tragic story. It is also a strong message against drug abuse and I applaud the makers and Brühl for the approach they gave this one here. Definitely worth checking out.