Directed By Darius Marder

Starring – Riz Ahmed, Olivia Cooke, Paul Raci

The Plot – During a series of adrenaline-fueled one-night gigs, itinerant punk-metal drummer Ruben (Ahmed) begins to experience intermittent hearing loss. When a specialist tells him his condition will rapidly worsen, he thinks his music career, and with it his life is over. His bandmate and girlfriend Lou (Cooke) checks the recovering heroin addict into a secluded sober house for the deaf in hopes it will prevent a relapse and help him learn to adapt to his new situation. But after being welcomed into a community that accepts him just as he is, Ruben has to choose between his equilibrium and the drive to reclaim the life he once knew.

Rated R for adult language throughout, and brief nude images

Sound of Metal – Official Trailer | Prime Video – YouTube

POSITIVES

– Marder’s march. Even with “Sound of Metal” being his first directing effort, Darius Marder lacks no semblance of emotional vulnerability nor visual spectrum with his inexperience. Instead, he very much crafts an intimately resounding narrative that immediately grasps ahold of the audience indulgence in this protagonist forced to give up his life’s passion in the blink of an eye, and preserves cinematic quality that proves he picked up plenty while working under acclaimed director Derek Cianfrance. Marder instills heft and consequence to every action having an equal or greater reaction, zeroing in on the many spontaneities of life that challenge us to either reduce ourselves to a victim, or keep moving forward with all hands of motivation on board. It’s inspirational in this approach, but not without illustrating all of the complexities from within that Ruben now sees and redefines himself as, giving us a continuously consistent approach with the movie’s protagonist that keeps the attention on him for one hundred percent of the movie’s scenes without relenting, preserving an isolation that goes a long way in empathizing but respecting his newfound disposition.

– Immersive insight. This is seen most evidently through the movie’s evolving sound design, which ascends and descends in volume and clarity with Ruben’s experiences. When the movie begins, the sound for the film is obviously typical before shifting to a muddled cloudiness once the decaying hearing takes shape. This leads to us, like Ruben, relying on lip reading to make out character interactions, a feat that, like Ruben, we struggle with immediately. From there, an important event at the beginning of the third act changes Ruben’s audible perspective, and unpleasantly elevates his hearing once more, sounding as disjointed and echoing to what I can only compare to a Zoom call with poor internet reception. It’s important to note the obvious difference and amplifications within each level, but aside from that how the film manages to conjure up this unique perspective that we otherwise would never be able to audibly interpret without the magic of exceptional post production.

– Shifting cinematography. The concept in design here from cinematographer Daniel Bouquet is nothing short of brilliant, in that it simultaneously articulates a combination of perspectives through a combination of angle shifts. Case in point to the tight-knit interior shots, which benefit Ruben’s position, complete with the influenced sound design’s that I previously mentioned. This not only illustrates this angle of perspective for him, but also feeds into the isolation that gives his character a feeling of loneliness for everything he’s going through. When the scene involves a wide angle with multiple characters in frame, it evades distancing, and returns to a normal sound design, which feeds into the perspective of their audible senses. It’s creative to use a presentation in visual and audible that cohesively breathes inspiration towards the integrity of the experience, offering us a clear and concise line of realization that stays with us through the progression of the film.

– Devil in the details. Another clever series of instances within the movie’s visual compass, is those intimate illustrations that breathe life from a wandering eye camera movement. This is especially evident during the initial first few scenes of the movie, where exposition can be attained in a way that is smoothly inserted without ever actually wasting time on it anywhere in the script. One such instance involves a vegan sticker on the fridge of Ruben and Lou, which not only speaks towards their vegan lifestyles, but also articulates the kind of dedication that each of them have towards their bodies, a fact that will serve Ruben well by film’s end. Another instance that is hinted on in visuals, but never elaborated on is the scars on Lou’s left wrist, which convey the idea of being a suicide survivor candidly. Without spoiling anything, this speaks volumes towards the direction that Ruben’s newfound position will take each of them with regards toward the passion of their music, and bring meaning and magnitude to even the smallest of details that initially felt inconsequential.

– Chain of language. Whether or not you know American Sign Language, the film uses on-screen text as a means to bridge the gap to communication, which allows you to keep tabs on all of the interaction between deaf characters. This is especially important during the second act of the film, where Ruben’s experiences within a group home keep him, and us, on the outside looking in. So timing is everything towards understanding this concept, thus why the text comes into play at a moment when Ruben himself is able to clearly define how to speak with his hands. It’s another example of immersing us in the character, but beyond that another proven means to production that attained that level of transcendent cinema, and if nothing else made this feel like a series of honest, simplistic moments stitched together with the most important element of clarity; communication.

– Minimal soundtrack. In what would otherwise be an obvious negative in a movie that centers in and around the world of music, the film’s lack of attention towards musical score offered a surprisingly beneficial advantage that served as an effective means to the level of importance it played on their ever-changing dynamic. Aside from this, the score itself is intentionally neurotic, sampling much about the death and gore metal scene as necessary, on its way towards articulating the role it played in the deterioration of Ruben’s hearing. It goes without saying that this won’t be a soundtrack that I will be purchasing anytime soon, but the loud and crashing chaos of music’s loudest and most alienating genre of music served as the perfect companion piece towards a toxically harmful environment for both characters, and stood as the rare example where the worse the better in terms of its complexion towards the conflict in the film.

– Good intentions. Not only is this a respectfully inclusive film in terms of its depiction of the deaf community, but it’s also one that attains with it a level of dignity and class that stems from a beneficial morale fiber. Outside of Ruben, nobody defines deafness as a handicap, but rather another challenge of life for them to overcome, and it’s in that vantage point of the character definitions where we attain the clear and visible level of intention that the film encapsulates. It finely illustrates the difficulty of such a lifestyle without undermining it in a way that makes it feel like a burden to those saddled with it, toeing a line of interpretation that isn’t always easy to any of these anything but motivational pieces of cinema.

– Strong cast. Ahmed has been one of the most underrated faces in cinema for quite sometime, so it’s great to see his coming out party as the versatile Ruben, whose mounting conflicts bring forth a range of emotional resonance from Ahmed that captivated me consistently. Ahmed competently toes a line of authenticity which included a constant drive of anger, fear, and desperation that stemmed from this character’s inability to accept the permanency of what happened to him. Ruben’s nuanced demeanor giving way to a fiery crumbling from within certainly comes across in Riz’s often frail encompassing, and his chemistry with Cooke illustrates a lived-in couple that have grown together mostly for worse. Olivia herself makes the most of the minimal minutes she’s given by a charged intensity that supplants an ample level of heart to the dynamic between her and Ahmed that better sells the tragic aspect of their relationship that is sacrificed by the ever-growing distancing between them that is only enhanced by this audible impairment.

NEGATIVES

– Underwhelming transformation. For a movie that clocks in at two hours exactly, the elements of Ruben’s character evolution feel every bit rushed as they do unearned in the face of the movie’s dramatic layers. There are many elements that feed into this lacking transformation, mostly that we rarely ever see the struggle from within that makes his life all the more difficult because of his newfound impairment. He picks up sign language without problem, attains the money needed to meet a personal goal without problem, and adapts to hearing difficulties later on without problems. This lack of dramatic emphasis surrounding Ruben undersells his transformation more dramatically, and often rushes more of the narrative’s more compelling ingredients, which in turn doesn’t make the most of its meaningful minutes. This leads me to my second problem…..

– Dull second act. In my opinion, the best parts of this movie are when Ruben is engaged in a struggle with a society that view him as different because he’s deaf. This not only harvested the vulnerability, which is important in properly investing in a character who doesn’t always make the most selfless of decisions, but also stood as the only time anywhere during the film when urgency weighed heavily into what Ruben viewed as his newfound disposition. When it moves into a house with other deaf residents, it’s compelling momentarily for how they interact and engage with one another on their daily routines, but slowly progresses nowhere on the rushed character evolution I previously mentioned, and pauses every subplot and character surrounding it when this happens. This is most evident in Lou’s disappearing arc, which eventually materializes back into frame late in the third act, and we’re just forced to accept it. For my money, the pacing is most effected during this period, where periods of boredom crept into my experience, and kept me hoping for a return to conflict outside of this temporary safety blanket of a home that Ruben finds himself in.

My Grade: 8/10 or B+