"The world does keep moving and it can be a damn cruel place. But for me, those moments of stillness, that place, that’s the Kingdom of God. And that place will never abandon you," said deaf war veteran Joe (played by the supremely talented Paul Raci) to protagonist Ruben (played by Riz Ahmed).
It’s precisely this journey, of finding serenity in stillness, that distinguishes “Sound of Metal" from every other film — a poignant and nuanced character study in reckless obsession, passion, crumbling realities and sheer restlessness.
Director Darius Marder’s film is a challenging and ambitious directorial venture. Powered by the extraordinary performances of its cast and technical brilliance in filmmaking and sound design, "Sound of Metal" is an empathetic and heartbreaking cinematic experience.
But the film is nothing without its protagonists, who mirror and combat the stigma surrounding deafness as a whole.
Our main character, Ruben, is a drum artist who spends his days continuing sobriety from heroin by creating high octane heavy metal music and touring the country in his RV with his longtime girlfriend Lou (Olivia Cooke). The RV doubles as their home and traveling studio, and the pair thrive together in their nomadic lifestyle.
Sound is an essential and granted part of their everyday lives, and their world comes crashing down as Ruben one day awakes without the ability to hear properly. The world around them is still the same in essence, and yet his perception is drastically different.
In the first 15 minutes of the film, the man who seamlessly drummed the highest decibels of music can’t even make out the simplest of words in everyday conversation. The distortion he hears is terrifying and the silence is an uninvited guest.
To appease Lou and also being tight on finances, he takes her suggestion to isolate himself and live in a deaf community for recovering addicts, promising her to “fix” their situation. The desperation is palpable and the struggle is gut-wrenching. How Ruben gradually adjusts to his stark shift in reality and tries to remedy his life is what forms the crux of the film.
Immersion is key to the makers of the film, who thrive in exploring the intricacies of emotions through sound and sensory elements to captivate viewers into the “inner world” of our protagonist Ruben.
For such a sensitive and grounded story that's driven by inclusivity, the film’s purposeful exclusion of visual and auditory elements in certain scenes is an incredible feat — not a single object in a frame or dialogue allows you to entirely understand what's going on in some sequences before Ruben himself interacts with the world around him and implicitly clarifies it for the audience.
It's entirely character driven — both from a filmmaking and a story standpoint — and it allows viewers to understand Ruben’s struggle with American Sign Language (ASL) and reluctance toward becoming one with the deaf community as he “learns to be deaf."
Ruben is, at first, hard to like. He dismisses suggestions from doctors urging him to preserve whatever hearing he has remaining, failing to convince his girlfriend that everything is alright and misbehaving with Joe, the head of the program for recovering deaf addicts.
Slowly, though, you yield to his charm, and you can’t take your eyes off of him. It’s only fitting here that an actor who has struggled for so long to create a diverse space for himself as a British-Pakistani individual is paving the way for more diverse and inclusive stories in cinema.
And what a revelation Ahmed is: As someone who has longed to see the actor gain mainstream recognition and success apart from the indie films and projects that cast him in mainly ethnicity based roles, “Sound of Metal” is a breakout role that’s come too late to highlight just what a gem he is for the majority of audiences.
Ahmed imbues Ruben with a restless physicality that makes you nervous for him, while giving him an almost childlike stubbornness to accept what is in front of him as well as a raw anger that makes you want to drop everything and comfort him in his most vulnerable moments.
It’s hard to tell that Ahmed spent seven months learning ASL and how to play the drums because on screen, it’s a beautiful part of Ruben. He’s the heart and soul of the film, and it’s extremely difficult to see any other actor that is tailor made for the role. Under Marder’s direction, his performance is an incredible showcase of his astronomical range and capabilities as an actor, and the next decade looks extremely bright for Ahmed.
To balance Ruben’s character arc are Lou and Joe, who are simply outstanding. Cooke as Lou is a perfect counterpart to Ruben. Desperate to cling to him as he loses his footing in life and willing to give him his space as a good life partner, she’s as sweet and stable as he is unpredictable — the two fit together like peas in a pod.
Raci, a stage veteran for more than 40 years, is a delight to watch in the film as well, finally earning his first Oscar nomination. He attempts to channel Ruben’s anger into something more tranquil and still, gently steering him into what his world will be like once his remnants of hearing are all gone. To combat the madness, he drills into Ruben that deafness is not a handicap bur rather, a more serene way of life that should be embraced.
The portrayal of the deaf community of the film is refreshing to see— they’re a kind and gentle community of people, unfazed by life’s circumstances and living life just like any other person.
The sound design, again, is masterful and integral to this entire portrait. As Ruben learns ASL, and later gets surgery for cochlear implants to give him just a trace of sound in his life, the device is in some respects, a disappointment in mimicking how the human ear receives and processes sound.
To give an accurate depiction of how sound in these implants is a far cry from how sound is perceived by the human ear, sound designer Nicolas Becker and Marder spent time in an anechoic chamber in Paris, a vacuum devoid of any noise. All the audience can hear is similar to what that chamber allows you to hear— the physical sounds of your body (the beat of your heart and the sound of blood coasting through your veins).
It’s an entirely unique and engrossing experience that boasts a never heard before sound design in 130 years of cinema. The audience feels as if they are Ruben, gradually losing the depth and tonality in sound that hearing gifts us.
Contrary to popular belief, hearing implants are not a cure to deafness, and for a film to distinguish that for audiences that can hear, it allow them to truly understand Ruben’s pain.
“Sound of Metal” isn’t for everyone. It’s a slow and moving piece of cinematic art that requires your investment and patience, and its greatest moments are in cultivating a sense of stillness and showing just how beautiful life is with or without sound.
Nominated for six Oscars (and now a winner of two for Best Sound and Best Film Editing) the film will be remembered for years to come. At such a time in our lives where every individual is struggling with unprecedented circumstances during the pandemic, “Sound of Metal” perfectly resonates now more than ever. It's a truly impactful and must-watch film!
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'Sound of Metal' starring Riz Ahmed is breathtakingly beautiful, emotional - RU Daily Targum
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