Sound of Metal | Film Review

 

I've wanted to see this for such a long time, long before I heard that it was nominated for any Oscars. It's out on Amazon Prime Video, and it's definitely worth watching.

Ruben Stone (Riz Ahmed) is a drummer whose life completely changes when he begins to lose his hearing.

One of the reasons that I was so keen to see this film was because I loved the concept. I thought it was a really good idea, and I wanted to see how it would be executed.

It goes without saying that sound is really important to the film, but the film uses sound really uniquely and effectively to tell this story.

Ruben is such an interesting, fully fleshed-out, well-written character. I also really loved his relationship with Lou (Olivia Cooke). I've been a fan of Riz Ahmed for a while now, and this is one of the best performances of his that I've seen. He is amazing as Ruben. 

Watching the journey of this character is extremely thought-provoking. It also feels really important to see him in relation to other members of the Deaf community.

I loved seeing the way that Ruben learnt Sign Language, and how this allowed him to integrate. It also stresses the importance of knowing even just rudimentary Sign Language while being able to hear. 

The story is so powerful and engrossing because it's heart breaking. You can see the issues from both points of view. The community sees being Deaf as a blessing, but Ruben wants to return to his life before he lost his hearing. You can completely understand where both sides of the argument are coming from.

Having said all of that, the last 20-minutes of the film felt underwhelming compared to everything that led up to it. However, the last scene of the film was extremely powerful.

Overall, I would really recommend this film to everyone - it's definitely worth watching! Even if you don't feel like it's for you, give it a chance.

8/10