The diagnosis threatens Stone’s livelihood but
also his four-year streak at sobriety. His girlfriend
and bandmate (a superb Olivia Cooke) convinces
him to drive their Airstream across the country
to a rehab facility that specializes in deaf addicts.
There he must leave her and learn how to be deaf.
And that’s where most films would usually end.
But that’s not what director and co-writer Darius
Marder is after in his feature directorial debut.
Yes, there’s a discussion of cochlear implants
and how some in the deaf community see them
as a betrayal, but deafness isn’t what “Sound of
Metal” is about. It’s about belonging.
Marder, who wrote the screenplay with his
brother, Abraham Marder, takes far too long
to get to his points in a sluggish middle but
has crafted a quite lyrical tale of a man trying
to find his way when everything he knows is
taken away.
Our hero’s backstory isn’t revealed until the
100-minute mark and there are too few clues to
what’s churning in his interior life. But Ahmed
is a revelation, another notch for a rising star.
Watching his character take in and process
information is riveting. Listening to him lost in
silence and despairing with his big, expressive
eyes is devastating.
“Sound of Metal” is also the first film you’ll see
where you’ll want to instantly find out who
oversaw the sound design. That would be
Nicolas Becker. His team jumps in and out of
the world of hearing, creating scrapes, choppy
distortions and muffles in the twilight between
those worlds that feel just out of reach. The film
has been subtitled so it can be experienced by
both the hearing and deaf communities.