THE GOOD: ‘SOUND OF METAL’
WRITING: 80
ACTING: 100
LOOK: 90
SOUND: 100
FEEL: 80
NOVELTY: 100
ENJOYMENT: 75
RE-WATCHABILITY: 85
INTRIGUE: 75
EXPECTATIONS: 80
THE GOOD:
Ruben slowly losing his hearing is a big part of the story and the way this film brings that to lie is so palpable that I found myself several times fully immersed in his experience. The sound design and mixing is clever and delivers a very strong message to the audience, thus making it possible for all of us to feel what Ruben is currently going through.
This film made me think about how much of my time awake I spend with headphones plugged into my ears, listening to music, podcasts, audiobooks and the like. Seeing Ruben go through all of this, feeling his pain and desperation, really makes me want to treasure my ability to hear for as long as possible.
The contrast between the loud and intense surroundings that Ruben spends most of his time in and his rapidly growing inner silence is brilliant.
Riz Ahmed and Olivia Cooke do a great job portraying a musician and his manager who are strongly affected by major life changes that suddenly makes their entire world crumble from below their feet. There are so much genuine desperation and a sense of loss involved that you cannot help but feel bad for Ruben and Lou.
Having to sit through many completely silent scenes and watch people talk to each other using nothing but sign language (without subtitles!) is a bold move that helps to give the film a unique atmosphere. People who don’t speak sign language will likely be just as lost as Ruben, making his experience all the more realistic.
Paul Raci plays an incredibly kind, understanding and patient mentor for Ruben. I’d take him as my life mentor any day.
Sound of Metal is a completely different kind of silent film. It is silent for large chunks of the story, but even in the silence, there is sound. It is, above all, a fine representation of how you can learn to live and enjoy life as a deaf person.
As important as our ability to hear is to most people, it is heartbreaking to see Ruben turn his back to the community that helped him overcome his disability to return to his old life, only to see him realize that he can never go back completely.
Ruben’s life goes from a high to a low to a new high and finally to a low again, teaching us how we sometimes have to accept the new situation we find ourselves in and find a way to enjoy life despite its shortcomings. Sometimes, we cannot return to what has been before.
THE BAD:
The story movies onto the main plot of Ruben losing his hearing and having to learn a new way of life very quickly. The first act barely allows us to learn about Ruben, his career and the people around him before his major life change.
The story moves from Ruben’s early struggles to his new life with such haste that the huge change in his life sometimes doesn’t feel like a big struggle at all.
Sound of Metal deals with Ruben’s life before his loss of hearing fairly lightly and forgets about it until the second half of the film, making it feel like a mostly pointless framing device until it is addressed again.
It feels as if this film dances around addiction without truly dipping its toes properly into the theme, making it feel like a pointless addition.
The final act kind of runs out of steam as the story that has been slowly built up over the preceding 100 minutes slowly and steadily dries out without ever arriving at a satisfying conclusion.
THE UGLY:
This film tried to tells us what the sound of metal is. However, it ended up telling us what the sound of silence is.
THE VERDICT:
Sound of Metal is a stripped-down, realistically constructed film about life as a deaf person and how one can come to accept huge life.-changing events and find happiness despite having to let go of one’s earlier life.
87% = = :white_check_mark: = GOOD
Review by Matthew Luke BradyBlockedParent2020-12-09T03:48:38Z
Whoa, where did this movie come from?
As soon as the film started, I knew instantly I was in for an emotional ride, and I was right.
'Sound of Metal' is a great movie that felt so encouraging and honest. I admired how the movie portrays the deaf community in a more positive light, because in the media it's usually misrepresented, as it often reeks of denial and self-loathing. I can tell a lot of care and effort went into this.
It's very thought-provoking as well. The main character Ruben (Riz Ahmed) who is a heavy-metal drummer, where his entire life revolves around the world of sound and music, which sadly gets snatched away from him. This devastating part of his life also becomes the thing that would later define him. The silence makes him pause and consider what life can be like when we learn to accept and let things go. Not only accepting the lost of your hearing, but overcoming a nasty drug addiction. By losing apart of yourself isn't always doom and gloom after you let it sit for a while, because it can give you a brand-new perspective on things. You start to conclude that silence is heaven to the ears.
Riz Ahmed delivers a terrific and heart-breaking performance as Ruben. He's the type of actor that does such a great job of making you care for his characters and here is no different. Riz has such intense, and yet expressive eyes that convey so much on what the character is feeling or thinking. Every worry, frustration, sadness, joy, and fear were all felt through his performance.
Olivia Cooke, who I didn't recognize at first, also delivers a great performance as Lou, Ruben's girlfriend. There is nothing more soul crushing than watching someone you love at their lowest point both emotionally and mentally. It makes me wonder why she isn't a bigger star already, because I think she's fantastic.
I like how the movie barely has a score, as the background is often incredibly quiet. The movie opens with a loud heavy metal concert blasting away it's music, but from Ruben's point of view it slowly becomes more muffled and clogged up. It just shows that a great deal of thought went into the audio and that alone made the whole thing effective. The same thing applies to Darius Marder’s directing and Daniël Bouquet cinematography; fantastic and impactful.
Overall rating: Highly recommend.