‘Sound of Metal’ gives Riz Ahmed his Oscar role | movie review

Riz Ahmed in Sound of Metal

In Sound of Metal, a drummer for a heavy metal band is forced to confront a very different future when he suddenly loses his hearing

Sound of Metal is one of the best portrayals of deafness in film using smart sound design and a stellar performance by Riz Ahmed to communicate the experience. And while it loses steam as it makes its way to the finale the core message is powerful and poignant.

There is a scene about halfway through Darius Marder‘s Sound of Metal, which is being released on Amazon Prime Video on December 4th, where Joe (Paul Raci) gives Ruben Stone (Riz Ahmed) the assignment of sitting in a room with a cup of coffee and a notepad and do nothing. He tells him if he gets the urge to do something to write in the notepad. For most people, it sounds like an easy task, but have you ever done it?

That is the most impactful scene in Sound of Metal because it, like many other of the film’s decisions, helps put you in the mind space of Ruben, a drummer and recovering addict who suddenly loses almost all of his hearing, by turning it into something you can relate to. When you’re uncomfortable with yourself, the silence—whether literal or figurative—when you’re not accomplishing something is deafening.

And for Ruben, whose band consists of himself and his girlfriend Lou (Thoroughbreds’ Olivia Cooke), standing still feels like death.

That’s apparent in his go-getter attitude when it comes to their music as they shuffle from gig to gig with their unique experimental rock sound that he hopes drives them to be something one day. Instead, he’s faced with the choice to lose it all when he all of a sudden loses most of his hearing. As the doctor puts it, what is gone will never come back, so his job now is to retain what is left—that is to say, no loud noises—which makes his decision to play a show that night confounding.

However, when he breaks down and Lou realizes what is happening she makes the tough decision to part ways. She goes home to France and he goes into a community for the deaf where his sponsor sets him up with a narcotics anonymous group. There, he comes to terms with his disability and learns how those around him also cope.

Sound of Metal‘s greatest strength is its ability to immerse you Ruben’s world. Through visual cues and smart sound design where we shift in and out of Ruben’s ability of hearing, we feel what he’s feeling. Both the silence and the moments of magic created by this deaf community. In these communities—many of the film’s actors are actually deaf including Lauren Ridloff‘s Diane, a teacher—being deaf is seen as a blessing and that Marder’s direction coupled with Ahmed’s engrossing performance communicate that.

Paul Raci, Olivia Cooke, and Riz Ahmed in Sound of Metal. Courtesy of Amazon Studios.

The central conflict of the film is Ruben’s decision of whether or not to get an incredibly expensive surgery to regain his hearing—in actuality, the procedure tricks the brain into thinking its hearing resulting in something like… well, the sound of metal. On one hand he’s seeing the beauty of his new condition, on the other, so much of his life has been driven by pushing forward with his music, with his relationship, and with his recovery. Without the distraction of those things, he and Lou are afraid he’d relapse.

Eventually, Marder, who penned the screenplay along with his brother Abraham Marder, writes himself into a corner which makes the third act feel like a break in the momentum. Nevertheless, the message never strays: accepting yourself is finding the ability to sit still and be okay with that. Which is why the film’s perfect final shot, a combination of the film’s greatest assets—the sound design and Ahmed’s performance, sticks with you.

More movies, less problems

Hey! I’m Karl. You can find me on Twitter here. I’m also a Tomatometer-approved critic.

💌 Sign up for our weekly email newsletter with movie recommendations available to stream.

Karl Delossantos

Hey, I'm Karl, founder and film critic at Smash Cut. I started Smash Cut in 2014 to share my love of movies and give a perspective I haven't yet seen represented. I'm also an editor at The New York Times, a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, and a member of the Online Film Critics Society.