Grade: B+
Writer/director Darius Marder’s film Sound of Metal opens with a song that is definitely not the kind of thing I like to listen to. It has lots of screaming, loud drumming, not much of a melody, and harsh power chords. Here, we are introduced to Ruben and his girlfriend Lou, an RV-dwelling/traveling heavy metal duo gracing us with a performance of their “music.” He drums, she “sings” lead. It doesn’t take long for the main plot point to come out, as it is revealed that Ruben’s hearing is deteriorating. When taken to a hearing test, he gets 80-90% of the words wrong, and is told it will get even worse. The movie’s Best Sound Oscar nomination is well-earned, as we are often brought into Ruben’s world to hear (or not hear) things from his point of view.
Ruben is a recovering addict with 4 years clean. Fearing that an experience like this might trigger a relapse, Lou takes Ruben to a facility for the deaf, run by a man named Joe (Best Supporting Actor nominee Paul Raci). He tells Ruben that the residents don’t believe their deafness is a handicap, or something to be fixed, and he encourages Ruben to “learn to be deaf.” Raci has a David Carradine kind of thing going on, and his fantastic earnest subtle work elevates the film whenever he is on screen. In real life, Paul Raci isn’t actually deaf, but both his parents were. That’s an interesting thought to let sink in – two deaf parents raising a hearing child. He does a lot of work in the deaf community, and is in a band that performs in American Sign Language. As Ruben, Best Actor nominee Riz Ahmed never misses a beat (pun intended), and is up to the task of taking us on this journey without making it feel like a movie performance. He is easy to root for. As Lou, Olivia Cooke is an actress I’d seen before – this time 3 years ago, in a film I greatly admired called Thoroughbreds. I gave her a special shout-out. I’m not surprised, as she equally deserves one here. I wish I’d researched and realized it was her before viewing Sound of Metal, though I have a feeling she won’t slip through the cracks again with me.
Sound of Metal is closer to a conventional Hollywood movie than the previous two Best Picture nominees I’ve seen (Minari and Nomadland), but it still feels raw and powerful. In debating between two grades, I settled on the lower one. The ending happens at a curious place in the story. I got the feeling there could have been more movie. But its spellbinding final shot will likely prove to be the most memorable of the year. Hello darkness, my old friend.
Grade: B+
Film Reviews by Mark 
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