Film

Peter Lucian (Peter Sarsgaard) is a man obsessed by silence—or, more precisely, the hundreds of barely detectable ambient sounds that comprise silence. Working as a New York City “house tuner”—an acoustic guru who adjusts the subtle soundscapes of his clients’ homes in order to improve their emotional well-being—the ultra-meticulous Peter leads an almost hermit-like existence according to his own carefully ordered logic. But when he takes on the case of Ellen (Rashida Jones), an anxiety-ridden woman whose problems can’t be solved simply through sound, Peter must confront the messy realities of an often dissonant world. Anchored by a quietly compelling performance from Peter Sarsgaard, the feature debut from Michael Tyburski is a revelatory tale of human connection that will leave you listening to the cityscape anew.

Q&A with filmmaker Michael Tyburski