User reviews

I was incredibly fortunate to have seen Sound of Metal at the Toronto International Film Festival including a Q&A after with the director and cast. Whereas a lot of films may take the storyline into melodramatic territory, Sound of Metal explores not only the reality of those who are deaf which is so poorly represented in film and television but also the destructive nature and high cost of denial and self-deception in the face of hard truths.

By focusing on someone whose entire existence revolves around a world of sound losing that which defines his life, it gives the viewer pause to consider what life can be like when we learn to accept and let go. There is so much more to life than the small corners of existence we live in and this film paints that reality with both tremendous empathy and a bluntness that lesser writers and directors would avoid.

In addition, one really has to commend the direction and design of this film's audio. It is clear that a great deal of thought went into how to use sound in this film. From the in-your-face pounding of metal music at the start through the muffled reality as the protagonist loses his hearing to the sense of peace in the moments of silence, it is clear that a great deal of painstaking detail was crafted in conveying this film's reality.

Sound of Metal is one of those films which will keep you thinking for days after about so many aspects of life such as addiction and how some relationships may simply serve a purpose in the short term for our life but ultimately must be let go. How it illuminates aspects of the deaf community that few get a chance to see is important. But there is so much more to this film that to pigeonhole it as merely being about deaf people does a grand disservice to the many fantastic qualities in every aspect of its creation. I highly recommend taking the time to watch this film.

Masterpiece! I was expecting a movie like Whiplash but this one is far better. Whiplash is a story of "If you work hard, you succeed." This one is "If you work hard, you succeed, then one day you can lose everything in a second, and if you work harder, you can realize that "everything" is actually nothing." A tribute to stillness...

Riz Ahmed is one of those actors, you simply cannot take your eyes off. It's not solely because of his good looks. He's always intense and, most importantly, he always makes you care about the characters he's portraying. In this case, he portrays a rock drummer who is losing his hearing.

As with most of his roles, he more than did his homework. Ahmed moved to Brooklyn for a few months and learned to play drums, he also spent a lot time with people from the deaf community. He showed the same dedication for his Naz Khan role in 'The Night Of', he immersed himself in the character's background. Expect no less from this actor.

Having two partially deaf relatives, I could relate to this film. Especially one relative who refused to learn sign language, they would rather read lips. Thinking of my relatives initially denying their hearing loss, this film really hit home.

Why are people bringing up Riz being Pakistani? With every role, will he continue to be defined by his background? His character was named Ruben, it's assumed his character was Hispanic. Riz can play other nationalities and ethnic groups beyond his own South Asian background. He can certainly pass for Hispanic, especially in this film. When considering Riz for a role, directors and producers should think outside the box.

The ending was extremely effective, but not a surprise at all.

Another excellent performance from Riz Ahmed. A few more films like this and he will finally have earned his Oscar.

While I think Riz Ahmed gave award-worthy performance in this film, the implant misinformation lowered my rating. Getting implants is not a quick process and a good audiologist would never tell a patient you're just going to have to get used to it. It takes multiple visits before and after surgery. That being said, I really enjoyed the scenes with the deaf community and him working with the children. I would give the acting 10/10. It has a great cast.

I also want to point out that there's absolutely nothing wrong with a person with hearing loss getting implants if they choose to and they shouldn't be shamed for it. But, it's also okay if you don't want implants, nobody should make you feel bad about either choice.

The sound of trees, the sound of distant traffic, the sound of coffee dripping into a pot, Darius Marder's directorial debut Sound of Metal is a study on the sounds of humanity, beauty and growth.

The film opens with a punk rock performance featuring only two musicians; the scene is loud and energetic with handheld camera movements capturing a woman vocalist and a man on the drums, resting behind them like a gunner sits before a 50 caliber turret. Darius Marder, being the writer of the 2012 punk masterpiece The Place Beyond The Pines, feels like a director with punk-rock origins in his veins, and a keen sense of sobering humanity within every frame. To be frank, I don't think anyone other than Tyler Durden himself or Ryan Gosling could have helmed the leading role of this picture to the degree that the spectacular Riz Ahmed has. He turns the story of Ruben Stone, a drummer going deaf, into something eerily real and relatable.

As we get to know Ruben better, we learn that his partner on the stage is also his partner in crime and sweetheart Lou or Lulu (Olivia Cooke). Together, the two stir up astounding emotions and recall of our own young love and the stories that proceed it.

But this is Reuben's story, and with each passing moment, his hearings fleeting disappearance becomes the main antagonist of the picture. Despite the brief takes of Rueben and Lulu's hardships, which include faint hints of suicide, nothing is as hard as the reality of his own inevitable deafness. Yet, no matter how sad or trouble both of these protagonist's life before the start of the film may be, I found it interesting and impressive that the director choose not to touch too much upon their backstories, and allowed these little nuances to add to a film telling a very clear and present, almost magnetic story about people in the now, present at this very moment.

While the film centres on the relationship between the two punk rock lovers, Sound of Metal begins unearthing the trails and tribulations of how a broke and passionate couple deal with such traumatic and realistic health scares.

While Reuben's deafness worsens and his health rapidly begins to decline, his options are quite simple; either deal with his deafness and adapt his life to it, or perform an implant procedure that could resurrect his hearing, the latter, costing upwards of eighty thousand dollars.

Reminiscent of the first time I ever saw 127 Hours, the film's sound is as crucial a characters as Rueben or Lulu. Vibrations throughout the film really gives the audience a sense of Rueben's sonic displeasure and fleeting health-this fact alone gives worth to seeing Sound of Metal in a theatre. It is no surprise that the sound mixing and sound editing of the film is top notch, easily being comparable to Damien Chazelle's debut feature film Whiplash.

Using very clever filming techniques, including cutting back and forth between regular dialogue and muffled ambience from Ruben's perspective, Marder's directorial choices seem very confident and seasoned, providing audiences with a cinematic movie-going experience. Truly heartbreaking and constantly upsetting, the film is as resilient as Rueben's will to continue being a musician. Avoiding the advice of his doctors to omit loud noises, Ruben stubbornly ignores all caution, quickly and almost abruptly by showcasing a medium shot of him on stage, mid-show, raging on a drum solo; sweating with passion and the brass villain known as Rueben's drum symbolls.

There are scenes of real heart in Sound of Metal. Rueben's confession to Lulu being one of them, but also, the whole process of recovery is truly a humanistic milestone and cinematic feast of human endurance and love. Communicating via notepads, words and writing, Lulu and Rueben begin a journey together that they both know could depart their love for something that has made them closer, and ultimately, who they are as people. Bleak, brazen and loud as heck, Sound of Metal is also an optimistic energy rush of a film.

While Sound of Metal is, first and foremost, a love story, the story of love becomes unclear whether its towards that of Lulu, or the will to be a performer; a love of entertaining, a longing of drumming. Much like Whiplash, and Miles Teller's finale scene in the film, the film is doused in the constant condensation of the dum set and Reuben's tattooed body. This is a strong ode to the love of music, a love letter to the loud and obnoxious sounds of rock and roll and hard core metal.

Joining Ahmed and Cooke in this passion project, is the ultra-talented Paul Raci, a confidant to Rueben and Lulu seeing to recovering his health. Raci's Joe provides the film with an outsiders look into the love and strong will Rueben has towards his craft and the people who trusts the most.

Marder's debut feature is truly a wonder to behold. Showing confidence in every frame, Marder's camera is placed frequently behind his protagonist's shoulders, constantly heightening his profile and Rueben's silhouette during his performances. This unseen method of capturing live music, along with his decision to capture their performances with the use of the documentary style shaky cam, adds a sense of uncertainty to the character and to the narrative as a whole.

Yet, as loud and vibrated Sound of Metal really is, there is a sense of tranquility to it. Clarity and intense scenes plagued in silence are some of the most captivating and devastatingly powerful, throughout. The quiet stillness that Rueben adapts as the film progresses, not only adds to the evolution of the character, but also the progression of the narrative and strength in Abraham Marder and Darius Marder's script.

Sound of Metal is a rapturous, soulful, wildfire of a film that isn't easy to tame, or ease, or really forget at all. A truly transitional, transcendent and soul-searching cinematic experience, that will devastate you, crush you and echo throughout your memory, well after the credits begin to roll. Metallic, brilliant and raw, Sound of Metal along with Ahmed's sobering as an ice-bath performance is a kinetic and electrifying cinematic movie-going experience. Spellbinding, atmospheric and alluring, Sound of Metal is a triumph in art.

Taking the auditory experience of film to a brand new and original level, Riz Ahmed signs an immensely authentic performance as a drummer locked from sound without warning. The film builds around the way he learns to come to terms with the challenges his disability presents, through the discovery of who he really is as life, meaning and purpose graft perspective to his being. With a great supporting cast, this is a landmark piece of cinema to be savoured.

I like the acting and the sound work is really great (these alone make the movie worth watching), but without delving into spoilers (this is something that became clear to me early on), I think the movie argues that by trying to find a cure for a condition you're betraying those that have no option but to live with it.

My husband has hearing loss and this movie made him weep. It also helped me to understand what he was experiencing. The script is extraordinary as is the acting. I hope they do well that the awards, they deserve it.

When I thought about how Ahmed's character was acting a bit like a drug addict for the first time in the movie, based on his mannerisms and the way he was speaking, and then 30 seconds later a character said "you're acting like an addict," I almost rolled my eyes.

A very strong lead performance by Riz Ahmed, interesting sound design, and what feels like a grounded and intimate portrayal of how it feels to be deaf is somewhat letdown by the film's screenplay. I didn't think events unfolded in a particularly compelling way, and it feels strangely bloated at 2 hours, owing to the relative simplicity of the premise.

Apparently there is a 100-minute long cut though, which could be a good deal better, in all honesty (but on Amazon Prime Australia at least, I could only see the 2-hour version).

Riz Ahmen is Ruben, a drummer in a hard rock "band" (which is just him and his girlfriend, Oliva Cooke). They share a strangely quiet, gentle existence living out of an old Air Stream and travelling the country. Their music is loud and angry; their lives are restrained. We learn that Ruben is a recovering addict and we soon learn that he is suddenly and quickly losing his hearing. It's a devastating diagnosis. To lose his hearing is to make who he thinks he is (a drummer & overall musician) nearly impossible. He is encouraged to go to a home for newly deaf adults who are also addicts. (One of the faults of the movie is that we aren't told exactly why or how this decision is reached. One day, he's just going there.) Ruben works to fit in and gradually finds a place for himself. But in the back of his mind, all this is a "holding pattern" while he tries to come up with the funds to get a cochlear implant to regain his hearing.

Ahmed is never less than amazing. The awards season recognition he's getting is well-deserved. He is pretty quiet through most of the movie, yet never totally peaceful. He is a deeply decent person, even gentle...yet he has demons he must wrestle with. Ahmed can convey these battles and contradictions just by sitting there and letting us see his face and eyes. You can feel how cheated he reckons himself to be. You can see when he's drawn to simple things like teaching a deaf child how to drum his hands rhythmically. You can see his battle to contain his anger and confusion. His first "AA" meeting at the center, where everyone speaks in a sign language he hasn't begun to learn yet, is quite arresting because you can see how overwhelming it all it, yet he barely moves. His performance is worth seeing, 100%. (I would also point out that the sound design is EXCELLENT and so critical.

But the events of the movie are shown so frustratingly. We have no real idea of how much time is passing? When he learns sign language, has it been a week or a year? Olivia Cooke's character (and performance?) give us almost nothing to go by. We initially like her because Ruben does, but we really don't know her at all, and the script and actor give us little to go by. And strangely, as arresting as Ahmed's performance is, I found myself not actually caring all that much about how everything turned out. Key events in the character's journey seem to be skipped. Major plot points (and there aren't many) are presented in a sketchy manner. It all led to a movie that feels like less than the sum of its parts.

By all means, see if just for Ahmed's performance. But I think the film itself is SO specific (a rock drummer addict who is suddenly deaf and must adjust but also wants surgery because he thinks it will be a cure-all to return him to his old life) that it forgets to clarify things that those of us who haven't had this specific experience are sometimes left in the dark. It's an overall miss for me.

Confession: I'm a total sucker for recovery stories - maybe it is the former social worker in me. Now, some people might suggest this movie's about music or the deaf community, but I honesty believe it is about saving (and accepting) ourselves. It is about the addictions that define us, whether we're embracing or surrendering them...and the people that help heal us along the way. In other words, it IS a recovery story. And it is also flawlessly done. The performances are intimate, the sounds/silences keep drawing you in, and the moments of stillness are absolutely breathtaking. Marder's crafted something that feels so personal and authentic, an invitation into these characters' lives and experiences. When the credits rolled, I just sat there taking it in.

This movie rocked me to my core. I'm struggling to gather the words to adequately express how profoundly this film moved me. It's such a specific story, brilliantly captured and conveyed, yet it's one shared by every human that's lived. The struggle to find meaning in the madness. The peace in the chaos. Hope amidst the bleak monotony of daily life. It also trusts that the viewer has a brain and can pick up on nuance. It's subtle. It's layered. It's patient. It's perfect.

Not quite sure what this film was meant to be about.

Firstly it's hearing loss for a working musician, but that soon turns into a recovering addict dealing with a life changing problem, which quickly becomes an addict entering a cult like therapy with no real explanation of their extreme lock in conditions imposed on him. Phone and transport confiscated? Why? Why cut him off from his support community? Why imprison him, he's an ex addict, dealing with a life changing situation. Why punish him for for seeking the advantage of hearing in his life which requires it?

Was it about the sorry sate of medical assistance in America? He had to sell off all his belongings to address his hearing loss.

These questions are never answered and he moves on to the final stage of the movie, reuniting with his girlfriend who unsurprisingly has grown in a different direction during the imposed unreasonable and unexplained no contact rule. This leads to the final moment of silence and clarity, like it was some sort of revelation.

The movie seems to think it's giving us some magic insight into something but it doesn't set up the fame work for it to land.

Riz does a good job of creating his edgy alternative musician character, although he's essentially a narrow one note kind of person. Highly strung but dealing with it.

Olivia's character is a rich girl with a broken family looking for direction through rock, but we don't really get to know her much to understand her motivations or feelings.

The award winning sound design was good. They went for the muffled tone rather than the more common tinnitus constant ringing and that's probably a good thing as siting through 90 mins of ringing tone wouldn't have been much fun.

It was a well made and acted movie that only half delivered for me.

The Sound of Metal is definitely one of the top films this year and it has everything to do with the steak kar performances of the lead actor Riz Ahmed. With blond hair it's hard to even place him as a Pakistani playing the role. Ahmed is an intense actor and takes us into the world of a tormented drummer trying to come to terms with losing his hearing not long after overcoming addiction. This new battle takes him into an unfamiliar world where the sound design helps the audience feel what the protagonist must feel. This film selves into experimentation with the auditory experience of cinema. An absolute must-watch.

After years of loud concerts, rock drummer Ruben suddenly loses his hearing. With his world falling apart, his girlfriend and bandmate finds him a spot in a deaf community. Here he will learn to cope with being deaf and commune with other deaf people. In addition Ruben holds out hope for surgery that will restore his hearing.

A quite novel film: there's not too many films that cover deafness, certainly not ones where we see a character lose their hearing and how they learn to live with the change. Quite engaging as we see Ruben deal with it after in an instant his whole world has changed.

Quite confronting too, as, through this engagement with Ruben, you're forced to think about how you would handle it if something like that happened to you, and how easily it could happen. This makes the first half or so of the movie quite an ordeal, though in a positive way as it helps you empathise with people who suffer something like this.

However, having set up the plot the movie does drift towards the end. The conclusion ties things together quite neatly, though fairly predictably.

Ultimately, very original and reasonably thought-provoking but it misses that something extra, especially towards the end, to make it brilliant.

A movie so well made, it makes you fascinated and at the same time frightened by experiencing deafness. The sound mixing is top notch, as well as cinematography and the direction.

This is the high time that Riz Ahmed got a limelight and he really shines in here. Through his superb acting, we experience his despair, joy and conflicted feelings. Supporting cast brilliantly supplements him.

This movie was one of kind experience and totally recommended to watch with best headset you got if possible.

Some things trouble me about this movie. I think the acting was not an Oscar performance. I would like Ruben to have some trouble with controlling his voice level while he is talking. However, I liked his performance in a way. He handled to demonstrate his hopes about his condition and inner conflicts without directly showing it to us. I can say that Riz Ahmed did a great job at that.

I did not like the story. I like it when movies have strong beginnings and calm endings. But, in this movie, nothing happens in between (Act 2). I did not also understand what it really tries to tell the audience. I now it shows us the deaf community and how Rubert's life changes. But it was just so long and slow that you can't really follow after a moment. I did not also understand Lou. I do not want to give spoilers, but I just didn't understand what is her deal. I guess this movie just isn't for me.

My wife is and has been a ASL (American Sign Language) interpreter for over 15 years. I wrote this by her knowledge of the Deaf Community. The file does show the real struggles of someone who looses their hearing. BUT the film does it wrong in several areas. Deaf schools encourage those family members that can hear to also partake in learning sign language (Side by side). When someone gets the operation, it costs $5000-$7500 for each side. Usually it's one side at a time then six months of adjusting. About a year passed and continuous adjustments have to be done before the other side is operated on. By standard, it is encouraged for one side to only be done. The chaos of having two implants done at once has lead many to commit suicide. The movie does show the noise and craziness, but fails about the warnings. I gave this movie a five out of ten stars for not enough study and understanding for the Deaf. This film could have been amazing.

While it does start with music and a band and performances (live), this movie is not so much about music .. it is about one of our senses! Many of us don't even realize how precious they are (our senses), because we have them and see them as a given. It is therefor quite incredible what the movie achieves by taking us on a journey.

Riz Ahmed is an incredible actor and it is amazing every time he can and is allowed to show his range. Actors are being cast by their looks and it is obvious what roles Riz gets offered most of the time. In this case it is different and the character is relatable to say the least. And that is something that the movie and its director achieve also. The way this is shot and the sound design ... I mean I can't stress out how important that is. If you like human drama you cannot go wrong with this one. It is thoughtful and then some ... not easy to digest, but so important in many respects.

"When this crappy, mundane world suddenly becomes radiant and magnificent...all the fear is gone."

This film is an achievement on pretty much all levels. A simple yet complex story, Sound of Metal brings a lot to the table. Riz Ahmed plays Ruben, a drummer whose hearing is rapidly deteriorating. He does an amazing job. Similar to Sally Hawkins in The Shape of Water, some of the acting is silent and mainly in ASL. When not using ASL, he ranges from quiet moments to high, extreme levels of acting. Beforehand, I wasn't quiet sure how he would do. The buzz around his performance kept building, even though some hadn't even seen the film. I don't think they could've found a better actor in the scenario. This is a career defining performance and I can't wait to see what happens with it come awards season. And I would be remiss if I didn't mention Olivia Cooke and Paul Raci. Raci has the second most screentime-at least I think-and he has some really impactful scenes. Mainly, his dialogue is strong. Like Ahmed, he uses both English and ASL but primarily ASL. I wanted a little more with his character because he is there as guidance for Ruben. I could compare him to Sam Elliott in A Star is Born. Raci is the voice of judgment and has some meaty scenes. The difference is we don't delve quite as much into his character, at least as much as I wanted to. And Cooke is also a voice of judgement, but as the girlfriend. Not too much for character development or defining scenes, but the genuine performance makes up for it. I'm glad the film takes a different approach and not the typical girlfriend we might see in this type of film. She's there to help and not there to cause any drama. The casting from the lead to the small roles are all great.

This is a screenplay heavy film. Not in the sense of dialogue, but rather the description and what is happening. I haven't seen the screenplay or anything like that, but you can just tell. Darius Marder directed this extremely well. He co-wrote with Abraham Marder and the story is by Derek Cianfrance, so he has a great sense of what he wants to convey. Through tone, sound, and what is shown on screen, he hit everything right. The only thing I would like to fix with the writing and directing is some of the pacing. As I mentioned before, the film is focused on the quiet, tender moments. Sometimes this means there's not much happening. It's clever to have this but the film can feel slow at times. The runtime is 130 minutes and about 10 could've been cut down. I don't know where it could have used the most cuts but a little bit could've been helpful.

Besides the acting, writing, and directing, the sound design is one of the shining achievements. The whole film is beaded around sound. But the way they edited and mixed everything actually puts you in Ruben's headspace. You are becoming hearing with him. Then there's moments where we hear what is actually happening as a non deaf/hearing-impaired individual. Those moments of realization aid in the experience. Emotion is built with that choice. Now there's a decision made by Ruben and it's part of what we can hear with him. I'm so glad we could be part of that. The only time something like that has been done was in the TV series Undone. The sound design there is so spectacular that it could win a majority of the sound awards. If there's one thing that you can take from this film, it's that sound is a virtue.