With awards season in full swing, one of the films generating a lot of buzz is "Sound of Metal," which first premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2019 and was acquired by Amazon Studios. The film stars Riz Ahmed as Ruben, a heavy-metal drummer who is losing his sense of hearing. Initially, Ruben tries to downplay the gravity of his situation and finds ways to cope, such as looking to his lead singer girlfriend, Lou, for cues on when to hit the drums at concerts. However, as his hearing worsens and he becomes deaf, he starts to unravel. Frightened by his violent outbursts and inability to accept his hearing loss, Lou worries that Ruben might relapse into his drug addiction as a way to cope, so she signs him up for a deaf community in the hopes that they can help him embrace and adapt to his new reality.
There are probably many examples of stories similar to "Sound of Metal," albeit in different contexts. For example, there are stories of athletes facing injuries that derail their careers, chefs who have lost their sense of taste, and singers whose damaged vocal cords prevent them from singing. But "Sound of Metal" felt different and packed a more heavy, emotional punch. Maybe part of it has to do with its experimental sound design - throughout the film, the sound jumps back and forth between Ruben's perspective and a hearing person's perspective. This pulls the viewer into Ruben's mind and allows them to experience the world through his senses, and suddenly his frustrations and shock feel much more visceral and understandable. But another reason why this film felt so much more devastating is because unlike other stories of loss, Ruben's hearing loss isn't really about losing something key to his identity as a musician; it's actually about losing human connection. The primary reason he so desperately wants to hear again is not so much about pushing forth with a career dream or aspiration as it is to find a way to be back with his musician girlfriend on tour, who was his only "family" and the reason he stayed sober the last four years. So his fight to hear isn't about playing music, but to preserve an important human connection that was forged through his ability to hear. That's why it was so devastating to watch the film's final scenes when we see all his efforts to hear again lead to the same results as doing nothing: alone.
The film has been praised for its efforts to relay an authentic story of deafness. In preparation for his role, Riz Ahmed studied sign language for seven months, and many of the deaf characters in the story are played by real deaf people, one of whom is actually Ahmed's sign language teacher. The director, Darius Marder, and the sound editing supervisor, Nicolas Becker, also went into an anechoic chamber before production so that they could experience what it's like not to hear anything. The film is also purposely captioned so that both hearing and non-hearing audiences can enjoy the movie.
Given its heavy material, "Sound of Metal" is not a light, breezy watch, and for those who are more plot-inclined, this movie may feel slow and unexciting. But its innovative use of sound design and depiction of an underrepresented community in film, along with Riz Ahmed's phenomenal performance, make this movie a powerful viewing experience.
Rating: 3/4 stars