A journey through separate sounds of silence
5/5
Spoilers
As has often been the case over this plodding, TV-focused Oscars Season, I can't say that I was dreadfully looking forward to Sound of Metal. I knew the basic premise was something about a heavy metal drummer going deaf. I assumed that meant three things:
1) There was going to be a lot of heavy metal played.
2) There would be a band and a stereotypical plot of natural selection in the music industry, with our drummer being replaced.
3) This would be yet another exposé on the drink, drugs, and one-night stand fuelled lives of 'rockers'.
Obviously, the relevant old-adage (you know, the one about books and covers) was waiting around the corner to slap me around the face like a rather salty halibut. This was not that film. Don't get me wrong there was some heavy metal played, there were times when our drummer feels he might be replaced, and there were discussions on the after affects of addiction present. None of these aspects were the movie's primary focus, thank goodness.
The heavy metal was limited to its true purpose: demonstrating how Riz Ahmed's drummer could damage his hearing to such a degree. Moments of pure noise, contrasted early in the film with trad. jazz and smooth soul. His band consists purely of him and his girlfriend. The possibility of rejection from this 'band' ultimately was more focused on the threat of losing her, his home, his life. And as for excesses, he was a recovering addict. This simply provided a concrete reason for Ahbed to seek help with his wellbeing when his hearing vanished.
Yet I am being drawn too much into the plot, for the magic of this movie comes from its exploration of sound rather than its tale of a deaf drummer. Sound, language, and silence provide the core to the mechanics and art of this film. Early on, before the deafness begins, everyday noises are
exaggerated against a silent background; a Foley artist's palate of the commonplace. The whirr of a blender. The gurgle of a coffee machine. Drips. Taps. Knocks. The sound editing draws you into what a gift sound is.
Then Ruben (Ahbed) loses his hearing very suddenly. We are given the monotonal ringing he suddenly 'hears'; the inaudible bobble of others talking, indistinct and blurred. All is reminiscent of swimming beneath the surface of a pool. The contrast is stark. If the director were to simply leave this here, this film would be similar to others featuring an absence of sound. What Sound of Metal proceeds to do is play with these concepts.
Scenes begin through Ruben's ears before switching suddenly to the full hearing. Contrasts can be jarring, the conversations similar to those of an unprepared tourist abroad. People write words to him, to talk; we, the audience, only hear his replies and are not shown the text. We become deaf in those moments, unable to access the conversation. He lives in a deaf community, they sign around him whilst he, and
we, know nothing of what they say. He visits his girlfriend in France. Some of the conversations are subtitled, some are not. People are purposefully excluded from the sound and language-scapes presented.
The title acts as a pun, of sorts. Metal clearly refers to the genre, on first inspection, that Ruben plays. In the third act, he receives surgery that provides him a means of hearing. Small hearing aids, of a sort, trick his brain into believing it is hearing the sound. The actual sound quality is poor, tinny, the sound of metal. Ruben's craving for sound, hoping it will fix his life, leads to an aural nightmare. Even the most beautiful singing and piano music becomes something Stockhausen would have been proud of. Again, the experiences we are given, the contrasts presented, are key understanding his torment.
The key message presented is that being deaf is not a disability. It is something one can learn to work with and still function with. Not being able to hear words, we are shown, does not preclude one from communication. In fact, with the variety of languages, both verbal and sign, in existence, perhaps it makes little difference.
Sound of Metal
Director: Darius Marder
Screenplay: Darius Marder & Derek Cianfrance
Starring: Riz Ahbed, Olivia Cooke, Paul Raci
Score: Abraham Marder & Nicolas Becker
Currently available on Amazon Prime
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