SOUND OF METAL
2020 | Dir. Darius Marder | 120 Minutes
"You don't need to fix anything here."
Heavy metal drummer Ruben suddenly experiences severe hearing loss. A former drug addict, Ruben reluctantly moves in with a support group of other deaf recovering addicts at the recommendation of his sponsor. Though he gradually finds his place within the community, Ruben must choose between making peace with his condition or attempting to correct it at great cost.
Directed and co-written by Darius Marder, Sound of Metal is an extraordinarily well-constructed character study on one man's struggle to rebuild his life following unexpected misfortune. The film essentially presents Ruben with two choices: salvage what remains of his old life or embark on a new path. While the picture skillfully presents the daily challenges of deaf people with incredible technique and care, Ruben's troubles extend beyond the sudden onset of his disability.
The sound design and overall presentation of the film are exceptionally inventive and serve a vital functional purpose. On a thematically resonant level, Ruben's talent for thunderous percussion as depicted in the first act of the picture is an outlet for his deep well of internal pain, and his romance with bandmate Lou is heavily implied to be linked to his sobriety. As Ruben loses his hearing, the sound mix from his point of view is distorted until it eventually becomes a dull silence, fully immersing the audience in his frustration. Subtitles translating American Sign Language are unavailable until Ruben learns to communicate with his hands. As Ruben adapts to living with his disability, even finding joy in interacting with members of his new community, the audio is filled with the ambient sounds of nature. Both Ruben and the viewer are urged to find serenity in stillness and quiet rather than striving for unnecessary correction, an idea that is strongly reinforced in the picture's final act when a successful medical procedure is decidedly proven not to be the solution to Ruben's problems after all.
With the film heavily relying on his facial expressions and overall physicality, Riz Ahmed is phenomenal in the role of Ruben, effortless conveying the drummer's rage and restlessness as well as his eventual serene enlightenment without ever devolving into caricature. As the support group founder Joe, Paul Raci radiates with genuine warmth through a stern exterior, making the character's eventual disappointment with Ruben all the more heartbreaking. Olivia Cooke supplies Lou with a great deal of nuance and not often found in love interest roles that are typically thankless. The cast also features in minor but notable roles Lauren Ridloff as a teacher at a school for the deaf and Mathieu Amalric as Lou's wealthy father.
Technically impressive and profoundly affecting, Sound of Metal is a story of acceptance, of letting go, and of life carrying on. The picture is carried by both its lead actor's exceptional performance and its uniquely immersive audio presentation, compellingly projecting its central message that disability is not synonymous with deficiency.
FRAGMENTS
- The idea for the film originates from a stalled Derek Cianfrance project entitled Metalhead
- To play Ruben, Riz Ahmed spent eight months learning the to play the drums and learning ASL
007 CONNECTIONS
- Mathieu Amalric (Dominic Greene in Quantum of Solace)
MCU CONNECTIONS
- Lauren Ridloff (Makkari in Eternals)
