Ruben (Riz Ahmed) prepares as he waits for the cue of his girlfriend, Lou (Olivia Cooke). He closes his eyes, listening as the crowd cheers and applause. Steadily he hit his drums as the show starts to rave in excitement. As the music gradually increases in pace, Ruben starts to strike the drums in an almost chaotic tempo. Under the flashing lights of the stage, the eyes of the couple meet then all sounds suddenly turned into complete stillness.
The film transitioned to the lives of Ruben and Lou. They lived in a rundown RV, mostly contented with the lives they are living. It's surprising how different they are from what people expect. They slow dance to jazz songs, make terrible smoothies, and laugh and share fun stories.
But everything starts to change when Ruben starts to hear mumbles and mutters rather than coherent words. It turns out that Ruben is losing his hearing drastically. The doctor advises him to maintain his hearing by eliminating all loud noises. That means he has to surrender his career and his life to hear. His other option is to earn $40,000 or more for ear surgery. An operation that can guarantee to bring back his hearing.
Ruben finds it hard to accept his situation. His hearing decline reaches a point of stress and aggression, hurting Lou in the process. Surely Lou wants to help his boyfriend, but all of her words become noises rather than coherent statements.
That is when the couple meets Joe (Paul Raci). Joe runs a deaf community and is willing to take Ruben in to help him overcome his stress and fear but with some considerations. Ruben must let go of his current life and Lou. In exchange, Joe would teach him how to be deaf and find life's stillness.
Darius Marder's "Sound of Metal" is an evocating story of a man's journey towards change and acceptance. It immersed the viewers into a life experienced by the deaf to have them relate to the struggles the community received. Though that is what the film aims to represent, Marder's careful writing and direction lead to more than an exploration of disability.
It's interesting to find the "Sound of Metal" chime about the similarities of heavy metal and deafness. Many don't understand why some people like the music that heavy metal rock bands make. For some, it's an incoherent noise that might be influenced by rage and aggression. That unfair 'negativity' and 'bad' connotation attached to the term 'heavy metal' is what the deaf community relates to. Their disability separates them from society. People refer to them as handicapped, making it all difficult to live life in harmony. It is like how rock bands and their fans are isolated from mainstream media.
But that is all just one part of Darius Marder's masterpiece, as the film is not just a story on disability, alienation, and isolation. It makes the viewers listen to the bellows and the howls of those looking for stillness in life. It's also about change, acceptance, forgiveness, love, dreams, and peace. "Sound of Metal" explores so many things within its 120 minutes runtime that it's much easier to let Marder show it instead.
4.5/5
