Radio New Zealand
A gritty drama with powerful performances set in two worlds we don’t see portrayed on screen very often...
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Sound of Metal
In an Oscar-nominated performance, Riz Ahmed (Venom) plays a heavy-metal drummer who faces a future of silence when he starts to lose his hearing in the directorial feature debut from the co-writer of The Place Beyond the Pines. Co-stars Olivia Cooke (Ready Player One) and Paul Raci, who was also nominated for an Oscar.
During a series of adrenaline-fueled one-night gigs, itinerant punk-metal drummer Ruben (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 (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.
Best Editing and Best Sound Design winner at the 2021 Academy Awards and BAFTAs.
2020Rating: M, Mature themes and coarse language130 minsUSA, Belgium
DramaMusic
- Director:
- Darius Marder (feature debut)
- Writer:
- Darius MarderAbraham Marder
- Cast:
- Riz AhmedOlivia CookeMathieu AmalricLauren Ridloff
Sound of Metal / Reviews
Slant Magazine
Darius Marder's film captures, with urgency and tenderness, just how enticing the residue of the past can be.
Full reviewThe New York Times
Propelled by a distinctive style and a potent lead performance, Darius Marder's "Sound of Metal" builds a singular tension between silence and noise.
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Los Angeles Times
It's conventional, but it also breaks ground: Angsty addiction dramas may be overrepresented in the movies, but sensitive, lived-in portraits of Deaf culture and community have always been in short supply.
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A.V. Club
What keeps Sound Of Metal from wandering off into the wilderness is Ahmed's performance, which remains compelling even when the script loses its narrative footing.
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USA Today
The film is profound, frightening, uplifting and, yes, actually breathtaking at times, and you're not likely to take your hearing for granted anytime soon afterward.
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Associated Press
British actor and rapper Riz Ahmed absolutely shines as Ruben Stone, an American punk-metal drummer whose life is upended when he abruptly loses his hearing while on tour.
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RogerEbert.com
A movie that doesn't just allow for silence but thrives in it, with Ahmed's eyes and body language charting the arc of his character.
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Entertainment Weekly
As Ruben's fear and rage begins to open itself to the unknown, the movie reaches toward something profound - finding real, furious power in the spaces between the sound.
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Hollywood Reporter
A film about the sudden onset of deafness that is too attentive to specifics of character and setting to ever feel like a rote disability drama.
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Screen Daily
This remarkably assured debut ... uses the medium of cinema to its fullest extent, both visually and aurally.
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IndieWire
[A] mesmerizing debut ... "Sound of Metal" injects visceral, edgy circumstances with remarkable sensitivity.
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