by Christopher James
Since he broke out in Nightcrawler, Riz Ahmed has been looking for his movie star moment. Sound of Metal proves he is the real deal. Director Daris Marder displays quite a bit of flair in his directorial outing. The Place Beyond the Pines screenwriter excels here specifically because of his unique use of sound design to give us greater insight to our lead character. Between Ahmed and the sound design, Sound of Metal is of major interest...
Ahmed stars as Ruben, a heavy metal drummer who lives life one day at a time. He and his girlfriend and bandmate, Lou (Olivia Cooke), travel the country in a ramshackle RV from gig to gig. Both recovering heroin addicts, the first act does a good job of establishing them as a pair addicted to chaos and just trying to find their footing. Their momentary stability is turned on its head as Ruben suddenly loses his hearing to a severe extent. Though he is instructed to avoid loud noises to save the remaining bits of his hearing, Ruben’s self-destructive streak takes hold as he turns back to the drums.
A major perk of having a performer as strong as Ahmed is that he can fill some of the gaps in the narrative. We get glimpses into his past as an addict through Ruben’s shakiness. He often seems withdrawn, coming alive in fits and spurts, mostly behind the drums. It's interesting to see how these qualities persist as he adapts to his newfound disability. While deafness changes his circumstances, it doesn’t change his personality. Ahmed charts his character’s instability and demons very well.
As his condition persists, Lou takes Ruben to a deaf community run by Joe (Paul Raci), a Vietnam veteran who lost his hearing when a bomb went off in the war. Joe’s program specifically deals with addicts with hearing disabilities, as he himself struggled with alcoholism. While initially resistant, Ruben begins to thrive in this new environment. He learns ASL and lip reading, helping him feel more in control of his deafness and sobriety. However, even in Joe’s remote commune, the temptations of Rubin’s old life still manage to find him.
It’s not often that the sound design of a movie is its most notable tech feature. However, the incredible sound team behind Sound of Metal are a major factor in the film’s success. We often hear the world from Ruben’s point of view. The immediate disorientation of going from full volume to only muffled noises is jarring. We, the audience, are in the same level of panic as Ruben. Later sequences use silence and static to incredible effect.
This is just one element of how Sound of Metal places us in the mind of a person with a disability, instead of seeing them through the eyes of an able-bodied cypher. The debate over learning ASL and lip reading versus getting a cochlear implant takes up a large part of the narrative. As an able-bodied viewer, it was interesting to hear the opinions of multiple deaf characters on onscreen. Yet, the film falls very specifically on one side of the debate, so I would love to read a deaf critic’s reaction to this.
Perhaps this speaks to how broad the film comes off at times. Ahmed shades the character of Ruben well, but we’re missing a lot of connective tissue. His past is primarily defined by his addiction, and it would’ve been great to explore at a deeper level what makes him so self-destructive. This quality is dramatized well, but that’s not the same as exploring it. Among the supporting cast, Raci’s Joe is the standout. He offers a picture of what living among similarly deaf people could look like and brings a unique, empowered look at his disability. As Lou, Olivia Cooke is incredibly emotive and compassionate. However, her character feels underwritten and rarely rises above the “girlfriend” stereotype. In some ways, the film is so enamoured with Ahmed’s performance that it forgets to sketch out the film around it. B
