If I disappear, like, who cares? Nobody cares, man. Seriously. Yo, and that’s okay. That’s life. That’s life. No, for real, okay? It just passes. It just ******* . . . ******* passes.
Sound of Metal is a movie, man. It’s out to get you. And it does. It’s the story of a rock/metal/punk drummer who loses his hearing and his attempts to deal with the profound emotional impact of that loss. I mean, let’s just get it out of the way: this ensemble is absolute perfection. Riz Ahmed, an actor I’ve been keeping an eye on ever since his scene stealing turn in Nightcrawler opposite Jake Gyllenhaal, gives an absolutely astonishing performance, his best so far, I’d say. He fully inhabits Ruben, his character, to an incredible degree and he’s called on to hit just about every emotional note in the book: sorrow, despair, hope, love, rage. And I don’t think he puts a foot wrong; there’s not a single moment that seems false. He’s ably supported by a wonderful supporting cast. Veteran character actor Paul Raci is phenomenal as a deaf addict trying to help Ruben find his way to peace. Raci’s final scene in the movie is absolutely heart-rending. Olivia Cooke, who I’m always a fan of, gives a really transformative performance in her supporting role as Ruben’s band-mate/lover. Also on hand are Mathieu Amalric and Lauren Ridloff who are absolutely perfect in their relatively small roles.
The writing is also incredibly sharp. There are at least a couple of points where I thought I knew where the movie was going and was kind of wishing it wouldn’t be quite so cliched and then both times, the movie took a turn and didn’t go there. I liked that the movie didn’t feel the need to force things into standard plot points. Then there’s that astonishing soundscape that the movie uses to put us inside Ruben’s ever-changing world. The brilliant, and rightly Oscar-winning, team behind that sound mix have created a work of art all by itself, in my opinion. This is one of two really excellent recent movies that explored what one might call “disabiities” or “ailments,” but avoided all the cliches of the stereotypical melodramas of the genre by trying to really put us in the moment to moment lived experience of the main characters. The other is The Father, a movie that wasn’t just about dementia, but actually tried to give the audience a taste of Anthony’s experience of the condition by crafting a script that was deliberately confusing, unsettling and contradictory. Sound of Metal does something very similar with the nuances of the sound design and I found it downright exhilarating. It’s probably the best sound mix in film history. And while it is a technical tour de force, it is such a masterpiece because it, like the film as a whole, is about creating an intense emotional experience. The writing, the performances, the direction and the sound all come together to create a deeply moving film, one that serves as a hell of a calling card for director Darius Marder as only his second film as director.
tl;dr – amazingly great film features a knock-out script, an astonishing lead performance and probably the best sound mix of all time; an emotional roller coaster tour de force. 4 stars.