Sound Of Metal

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Radio Ballarat and South West Victoria on May 7, 2021.

(MA15+) ★★★★★

Director: Darius Marder.

Cast: Riz Ahmed, Olivia Cooke, Paul Raci, Lauren Ridloff, Mathieu Amalric.

"Are you going to eat that?"

Pop quiz: what would you do if you woke up tomorrow and you were deaf? 

That's the intriguing jump-off point for this remarkable film about identity, which is driven by a great performance from Ahmed and is wonderfully sculpted by Marder in his first non-doco as director. From its affecting use of sound to its gripping documentary style, Sound Of Metal takes a powerful story and elevates it even further, making it worthy of all its award wins and more.

Ahmed stars as Ruben, a metal drummer in Blackgammon (based on real life sludge metal band Jucifer). His whole existence centres on living and travelling from gig to gig in an RV with his partner and bandmate Lou (Cooke). When he wakes up profoundly deaf one morning, he is forced to question his very existence.

Sound Of Metal is impressive on so many levels. It's use of sound deservedly won it an Oscar (it also won for editing). The soundscape regularly puts us in the head of Ruben, where everything is frustratingly muffled and confusing. It's such a stupidly simple trick, I can't help but wonder why it hasn't been done before (maybe it has - tell me in the comments), but when mixed with the doco-style of cinematography, you quickly forget the story isn't real.

(Sound Of Metal and Nomadland are kinda the same film by the way.)

The use of actual members of the deaf community helps convey that realism, as does the ferocity of Ahmed's performance. Aside from learning how to sign, how to drum, and pulling off an utterly convincing American accent, Ahmed is in the zone here. He delivers the anguish, bewilderment, frustration, and heartbreak of the role to perfection, but also conjures up joy and hope in between. It's an immersive and holistic performance worthy of accolades, and delivers on the promise Ahmed has consistently shown since his breakout in Four Lions.

He's backed up by Cooke's under-rated turn as Lou, and Raci's Oscar-nominated role as the leader of a deaf community. Both are excellent, especially Raci, whose final scenes with Ahmed are heartbreaking.

Marder's bold directorial choices around the performances, the use of sound and the doco-style approach pay off in spades. Sound Of Metal is a great example of the film's techniques helping take the story to another level. By putting us in Ruben's head, it strengthens the theme of loss of identity and the difficulties in letting go of the past, and makes the character's hardships hit harder than a metal drummer on a snare.