Sound of Metal is profoundly quiet and loudly inclusive...

Darius Marder’s debut directorial film is filled with music, life, and love, and then it's still, lonely, and silent and you are gripped in every frame. Sound of Metal follows the story of recovering drug addict, Ruben and his partner and lover, Lou, a metal band duo who tour relentlessly to pursue their dreams of rock stardom. Along the way, Ruben begins to experience hearing loss. Repeated drums, guitars, and loud music have damaged his hearing and a tour stop physician explains that he must stop exposing his ears to this environment or he will eventually become completely deaf.

At this point, the film could take one or two different paths and it does for about 10 minutes each, and then masterfully Marder and Riz Ahmed in a well-deserved, Oscar-nominated performance take us into a new place completely. Ruben first shows us denial and puts himself right back into the music scene. Doctor’s warnings be damned, he’s probably exaggerating anyway. Then we see the self-loathing and pity party as the hearing loss rapidly takes a significant hold of Ruben’s abilities to play, communicate, and function. With fears of a potential relapse, and on the guise of his NA sponsor, Lou begs Ruben to check into a deaf community group home for addiction recovery.

Best Supporting Actor nominee, Paul Raci, runs this home and becomes Ruben’s guide to more than just recovery, but also in fitting in with his new community of deafness. As a man who lost his hearing in combat, he too has been on both sides of the hearing world and has no pity for Ruben’s disdain for his circumstance. He has many rules to live by in the community but central to those is that deafness isn’t something “to fix”.

This is where the crux of the film lies, challenging ableism and creating community in places where others haven’t been invited in before. It is here where the quiet of the film becomes its own character. We watch as Ruben sits at a table in conversations where he is left completely without companionship or interaction due to the language barrier. Something that deaf people go through every day. Marder doesn’t even offer the viewer subtitles in these moments and at first, you are a bit put off until you realize that you are truly not part of this community, and that’s ok- neither is Ruben, yet.

Ruben struggles here to find affinity and our discomfort matches his. We root for him when he begins to connect with his peers and finds kinship and purpose in his elementary school sign language classes. Suddenly this hard metal drummer is soft, vulnerable, and finally connects as he embraces his deafness. Ahmed is masterful in these scenes. Learning to sign is one thing, but living and breathing deafness fully is a whole other feat. Many of the supporting actors in this cast are hearing impaired and lend their real-life experience to this story. Paul Raci has been outspoken about Ahmed’s portrayal of this character and his commitment to getting it right. As the son of two deaf parents, Raci keenly understands the importance of seeing yourself as a central character that is full-fledged and not purely identified by your deafness. Because of this, Raci knows how important representation will mean in other entertainment pieces. This world that Marder creates is complex with its metal music, community, recovery, friendship, and heartache. All created with characters who happen to be deaf.

However, Marder goes further and continues to challenge us and our abelist, hearing hierarchical thinking. With one foot straddled in each world, Ruben still pines for a cochlear implant and gives up almost everything to get his hearing back. And just when we think, as viewers, “yeah, that’s what I would do too” our hero shows himself struggling again and his vulnerability takes us to a place I never thought I’d root for.

Sound of Metal is masterful and inviting. I felt changed after seeing it. It’s the kind of movie that doesn’t usually get a wide-screen release and would be your old-time indie favorite. The Academy (AAMPAS) got this one right on so many levels and Amazon got this one right too. More of this diversity, more of this storytelling, more of Darius Marder, and definitely more of Riz Ahmed.

And there’s the opinion you didn’t ask for...xo Kristi