“Sound of Metal” Movie Review by Brooke Daugherty : Pop Culture Leftovers

“Sound of Metal” Movie Review by Brooke Daugherty

January 9, 2021 9:14 am |

SYNOPSIS: *A heavy-metal drummer’s life is thrown into freefall when he begins to lose his hearing.*

Sound of Metal directed and written by Darius Marder adapted from a story by Derek Cianfrance and helped by Abraham Marder for the screenplay. The film took over 10 years to get into production and had several changes from the announcement in 2016. Spoilers ahead, but the performances are still worth a watch even with said spoilers.

Riz Ahmed stars as Joe, a drummer in a punk metal duo who is losing his hearing. We follow Joe’s journey as he deals with his hearing loss. He finds out losing your hearing can be hard, but when you are a musician, it can be career ending. Ahmed’s performance is earnest and emotional. Joe is a recovering drug addict. His new drug is his band, Blackgammon, with girlfriend Lou played by Olivia Cooke. When Joe’s hearing starts to go, Lou gets him to go to a home for deaf individuals to learn how to live with hearing loss.

Joe reluctantly goes and eventually fits in with the group, but things take a turn when he sells everything he owns to get cochlear implants. He leaves and finds Lou living at her father’s house with a new life. Unlike most films with a protagonist with a disability, this one doesn’t leave Joe living happily with his new found silence. Instead, it ends without resolution. This film is more about the powerful performances than just the story.

The use of sound and silence in this film add to the brilliant performance of Riz Ahmed. The runtime over 2 hours goes by at a good pace, even when the film is just showing normal life. I only paused in the middle to go to work, otherwise I would have watched this film in one sitting.