You don’t have to be a fan of metal music to get the appeal of the new film, Sound of Metal. The festival darling and directorial debut by Darius Marder, stars Riz Ahmed, one of the most affecting actors around, as a metal rocker who is beginning to lose his hearing. While possibly losing the thing in the world he loves most is already tough, he also faces a fraying relationship with his girlfriend and bandmate, played by Ready Player One‘s Olivia Cooke, while also coping with sobriety.
Sound of Metal is a film grappling with a lot of issues, and the new trailer takes on the biggest head-on. The closed captions you’ll see aren’t a mistake, but a way of thrusting the viewer right in the world of the hearing-impaired. This reminds me very much of the 2004 film It’s All Gone Pete Tong, which covered similar ground.
Also in the cast are Paul Raci, Lauren Ridloff, Shaheem Sanchez, Chelsea Lee, Jeremy Stone, and Mathieu Amalric. Marder not only directed but co-wrote the script with Abraham Marder.
Sound of Metal hits select theaters on November 20th before Amazon Prime on December 4th. Ahmed is clearly being positioned for the Best Actor race here, and judging by some of the reviews I’ve heard from the festival circuit he has a pretty good shot.
SYNOPSIS: During a series of adrenaline-fueled one-night gigs, itinerant punk-metal drummer Ruben (Riz Ahmed) begins to experience intermittent hearing loss. When a specialist tells him his condition will rapidly worsen, he thinks his music career — and with it his life — is over. His bandmate and girlfriend Lou (Olivia Cooke) checks the recovering heroin addict into a secluded sober house for the deaf in hopes it will prevent a relapse and help him learn to adapt to his new situation. But after being welcomed into a community that accepts him just as he is, Ruben has to choose between his equilibrium and the drive to reclaim the life he once knew. Utilizing startling, innovative sound design techniques, director Darius Marder takes audiences inside Ruben’s experience to vividly recreate his journey into a rarely examined world.
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