Everything Else Is Noise Review (2026 Toronto Internation Film Festival)
Tereza lives in a radiant apartment full of plants and the security of long-term dwelling. Traffic downstairs crawls in slow movements. The neighbors upstairs have their own private ideas about noise coming through walls and ceilings. In her serene temperament, Tereza (Teresa Sánchez) receives her friend, Rosa (Rosa Estela Juárez Vargas), the composer, alongside a journalist and a cameraman, for a scheduled discussion on camera. A barking dog and power outage are only a few of the many interruptions that compete with the completion of the interview. Tereza’s aloof daughter, the cellist Luisa (Luisa Pardo), who wanders about in her pyjamas, and the family’s celebrated identity arouse intrigue. Before long, the three women, who are recognized musicians for all the wrong reasons, enter a conversation on and off camera that probes concepts of success, music creation, and male chauvinism.
Everything Else Is Noise is a one-location piece without much sharpening of tensions. On the contrary, the film develops nearly like a circular move spinning from the same place. Friction is already detected and surpassed by the three women, and even if the incoming visitors assume a conducting position in this room, they only bring noise in a house resilient to disruptions. Tereza, Rosa, and Luisa already know their place in the world, and they choose to inhabit their own private spaces, driven by immunity and independence. Their music, in turn, resembles the soundscapes of daily life more than the expected, pastoral synthesis of strings.
This concerto of one day’s recordings in one single apartment has a meek stamp of unassertive power. Director Nicolás Pereda exudes enjoyment in moments when his camera is rolling disjointly from the interviewing camera that is surveying. The mics might record desynchronized conversations, while the three women (all recurring collaborating actresses) are having a laugh in the apartment, or the frame might present the insensitive, philistine stance of the two guests. Often, the director finds his interest in the highest corners or before the darkest hours. For this resistance to perform, Everything Else Is Noise gradually achieves a sober character with relations beyond its own temporal moment. It’s calm and it’s phlegmatic and self-composed, inasmuch as the three musicians still outnumber their guests.
The industrious Mexican-Canadian director (despite his young age) returns to the festival for the eleventh time within seventeen years. I would not bring in numbers if these were not indicative of how his oeuvre is truly honored by a tight-knit team of professionals on a global scale. Accolades, however, render no further significance if the work itself does not scratch at the surface with a searching spirit. Pereda once again inquires into the lines between reality and fiction, and he does so with understated manners. Beyond his past explorations, with the present film he peeks with curiosity at patriarchy, almost as if he is rehearsing. Will this become a ‘to be continued’ theme?
★★★★
Premiered at the 76th Berlin International Film Festival and had its North American premiere in the Wavelengths section at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
Lo demás es ruido, 71’ / Dir: Nicolás Pereda / Screenplay: Nicolás Pereda, Juan Francisco Maldonado / Producer: Catalina Pereda / En Chinga Producciones, Weltfilm / Germany, Canada, Mexico
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