Sound of Metal

De todas las películas nominadas al Oscar de este año, Sound of Metal es definitivamente el tema más original. Nunca he visto una película así, ni he oído hablar de ninguna similar. Las escenas más poderosas son las primeras en las que se enfrenta a la situación impactante y el final con la participación de Mathieu Amalric y la banda sonora francesa. Acortaría la película, al igual que casi todas las películas nominadas al Oscar de este año. (24.04.2021)

The difficulty of getting used to deafness (not only) during rehab in a community. Very intimate and naturalistic indie festival-fodder, primarily thanks to the engaging (and, tempting as it may be, not for a moment overplaying) Ahmed and his work with all that "noisy silence"; that is, the de-noising, the tinnitus, the whistling in the ears, the implant rustling and the contrast to the amplified sounds of everyday life that we take for granted. It revels in lingering silent close-ups of faces while an irritating whistle blares in your ears. Yes, this makes it slow and idiosyncratic, but unprecedentedly immersive given the medium; it's worth watching with headphones. Perhaps it didn't have to be so cold, detached and predictable; you know exactly where it's going to go and what scene it's going to end with. Overall, one can hardly help feeling that this is exactly the kind of film where, when you mention its title, your first association is "two-hour gala performance of Riz Ahmed" rather than anything else. (20.12.2020)

Last year, I saw a film starring Riz Ahmed called Mogul Mowgli, which at first glance is very similar to Sound of Metal, as it also tells the story of a musician who suddenly has to deal with a new stage in his life affected by his health. I liked Sound of Metal a little more in the end, though, mainly because of the story line involving the deaf help centre – Paul Raci and the other "deaf actors" were excellent. But the film was mainly an acting opportunity for Ahmed, who gives a convincing performance, with Olivia Cooke complementing him brilliantly. Personally, I would have been happy to relegate (or leave out entirely) the sequence with the father – fifteen to twenty minutes less running time would not have hurt the film – or to have given more attention to the deaf centre. Still, this is a solidly filmed and acted drama about the fact that we don't necessarily need to hear many important things, we just need to sit down for a moment and listen to our inner self. (18.04.2021)

Alright, I’ll admit, I went into Sound of Metal expecting something along the lines of Whiplash. Spoiler alert: that didn’t happen. Riz Ahmed plays a super closed-off character, and while he plays it well, it’s mostly because he looks like he just walked straight out of the Bronx. The first 20 minutes are more chaotic noise than actual metal, and honestly, no wonder the guy loses his hearing. After that, it’s a series of disconnected scenes, emotions, and perspectives, and it didn’t really hit me until Mathieu Amalric shows up near the end. It’s an intriguing drama set in the deaf community, but at 130 minutes, it feels distant, surface-level, and struggles to connect with the audience. (20.03.2021)

The powerful story of a heavy-metal drummer who loses his hearing, inspired by a true story. Ahmed’s acting recital is supported by work with sound, which jumps back and forth between general reality and how the central protagonist hears things. Joing the community of the hard of hearing and self-searching is very well presented. The image of the deaf drummer beating a tin slide that a deaf child has his ear pressed onto is a powerful one. In the end, the title Sound of Metal is a cynical play on words, suggesting that metalheads might all be doomed to hear just a tinny echo for the rest of their lives. I can’t fucking hear you! (20.01.2021)