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March 29, 2024, 09:59:48 AM

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Sound of Metal (Riz Ahmed - 2020/21)

Started by Vitalstatistix, December 30, 2020, 03:03:08 PM

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Vitalstatistix

The sound design and Riz Ahmed's performance in this film are both phenomenal.

Some sequences are the most physically uncomfortable and anxious I've felt whilst watching a film in a long while. Oh, that's meant to be a compliment.

Would link to a trailer or summarise the story but who am I fucking Peter Bradshaw just watch the fucker. It's a drama there you go.

non capisco

Agreed, hugely affecting film with a stunning final scene, the best film I saw this year that wasn't Parasite or Lover's Rock. Riz Ahmed is amazing, as is Paul Raci who plays his counsellor, an actor I don't think I've seen in anything before this.

Expect earplug sales to soar if this reaches a wider audience!

El Unicornio, mang

A friend mentioned this one, hadn't heard of it. Probably wouldn't have bothered with it going by the trailer but will definitely check it out based on the very positive reviews.

Moribunderast

Was definitely in my Top 5 films of 2020. Riz is awesome, the gig scenes are very well done and, as an avid concert-goer, it was genuinely unnerving and frightening to watch at times.

thugler

Damn, thought this was close to being really good but fucked it up. The scenes toward the end were way too rushed and i didn't understand the motivations of the 2 main characters at all. The band scenes at the start didn't quite work either, sounded like 2 amateurs banging away without much coordination and hardly the stuff of a successful touring band. Shame because the sound design and performances were very good.

peanutbutter

Got a soundbar and subwoofer a bit ago, this was the first film I watched with it, fucking fantastic choice!


That being said there was something off about the film, it seemed like a film that should be the length it was, and it seemed to hit the narrative notes, and Riz Ahmed was great, but there was something hugely lacking in how it all built. Felt like it dragged on forever.

Noodle Lizard

This was fine but, like most awards fare, not something I'll ever need to watch again.

popcorn

#7
I was impressed by this. I liked the alternating feelings of calm and frustration it maintained.

It pressed a few personal buttons in me to do with music, language, isolation, and separation. His time at the retreat, learning ASL, really reminded me of my time stuck in the Japanese countryside sitting in rooms of people having no idea what anyone was saying, and drawing with the kids.

SPONGLERS BELOW

I was very touched by his relationship with his girlfriend - her concern, her anguish over separating from him, and their uncanny reunion in the final chapter. The change in her circumstances and appearances really affected me.

I grew up with a pack of deaf kids and used sign language as a kid, but I've forgotten it now. I had some misgivings about the deaf (or Deaf) politics. A lot of deaf people resent the attitude of deafness as something to fix and deaf parents may oppose their child having cochlear implants because they fear it will make them less likely to learn sign language and so on. I don't really have any position on that subject, but this seems to be the attitude the film takes, though possibly not completely intentionally. I can't make my mind up.

By having Ruben accept that his band and relationship is over (the thing that has been driving him through the movie), and remove his implant processors, he seems to have finally found the stillness and acceptance of deafness that Joe wanted him to find. This works dramatically as a metaphor for Ruben accepting his situation and moving on - it's cathartic.

But I think it's unrealistic for someone in his situation, who has grown up with normal hearing, using spoken English. AFAIK, this is the kind of person for whom implants are usually the best option and will best help him exist in the world as he knows it, with the friends and family he already has, etc. It makes me a bit uncomfortable to see the film condemning (?) this course.

It's also interesting/weird that he has finally won by finding "stillness", when he started off as a drummer. Is the implication that this musical life of his was always immature and transient, driven by anger? something to be outgrown or defeated?

wooders1978

I watched this Sunday afternoon - overall an ok film - couple of observations - it's about 30 minutes too long, I was very bored by it all in the final 20 mins.
I didn't find the lead character particularly likeable or relatable, not sure if that was a conscious choice by Ahmed or not
He doesn't seem to make any significant relationships, even his own girlfriend is hardly in it, so I don't really care about any of the side characters either
Spoiler alert
[close]

Other spoiler annoyances below
Spoiler alert

Obviously he can't actually play the drums - felt like every "drumming" scene was him robotically banging 2 drums

When he said he was deaf and she calls their agent - he finds the deaf school place and gets him a place in a matter of minutes - you wot?

No one thought to tell him what his hearing experience would be like after the op?

The self harm aspect of his girlfriend was a bit if a cliche - "oh look you're not scratching" - few minutes in his company and she's scratching away, pretty poor story telling

[close]

popcorn

I'm not bothering with spongler tags because I think this thread should be for discussing the film and I doubt there are many people scanning it for hype or something, it's not like it's a new Star Wars.

Quote from: wooders1978 on May 11, 2021, 01:22:43 PM
Spoiler alert

Obviously he can't actually play the drums - felt like every "drumming" scene was him robotically banging 2 drums
Spoiler alert
[close]
[close]
I noticed that too - I put it down to "guess that's the genre" but yeah he's not exactly Dave Grohl is he.

Quote
Spoiler alert

No one thought to tell him what his hearing experience would be like after the op?
[close]

Yeah another tiny detail that bothered me. Just the kind of thing that could have been covered if the doc had told him this early on, but then he's too desperate to take it on board and then ends up disappointed.

Quote
Spoiler alert

The self harm aspect of his girlfriend was a bit if a cliche - "oh look you're not scratching" - few minutes in his company and she's scratching away, pretty poor story telling

[close]

That's another thing I felt a bit hesitant about regarding the meaning. The implication is that either he or their lifestyle had driven her to self-harm and anxiety, but there's no evidence that he's abusive or a bad influence on her - they clearly loved each other - and as far as musicians go they seemed to be doing fairly well, self-sufficient and living in their frankly brilliant RV. Couldn't help but wonder if the implication was just, again, "being a punk rocker is immature and bad for you" or what?

Cuellar

Quote from: wooders1978 on May 11, 2021, 01:22:43 PM
Spoiler alert

No one thought to tell him what his hearing experience would be like after the op?
[close]

Quote from: popcorn on May 11, 2021, 01:46:32 PM
Yeah another tiny detail that bothered me. Just the kind of thing that could have been covered if the doc had told him this early on, but then he's too desperate to take it on board and then ends up disappointed.

And miss out on that sweet $40k?

thugler

Quote from: popcorn on May 10, 2021, 12:49:48 PM

But I think it's unrealistic for someone in his situation, who has grown up with normal hearing, using spoken English. AFAIK, this is the kind of person for whom implants are usually the best option and will best help him exist in the world as he knows it, with the friends and family he already has, etc. It makes me a bit uncomfortable to see the film condemning (?) this course.

Yeah this was confusing to me as well, I can see that the implants are not a true replacement for his previous hearing, but it seems pretty rash to just give up on it completely. Particularly when the first thing that causes this is being at a loud party and being unable to hear conversations clearly. Like no shit, what did you expect. He'd still have been able to communicate with his girlfriend, deaf or no, so I didn't follow that it needed to cause their relationship, or even them being a band to end completely.

Noodle Lizard

Also, how likely is it to go more or less completely permanently deaf overnight? From what I remember, he goes to bed fine and then wakes up not being able to hear anything, and that's the end of it - surely it'd be a far slower deterioration in his circumstances, and I don't think there was anything to suggest he was already experiencing hearing loss. I get it's a film, but a lot of things seemed to happen unrealistically quickly.

popcorn

Quote from: Noodle Lizard on May 11, 2021, 05:48:20 PM
Also, how likely is it to go more or less completely permanently deaf overnight? From what I remember, he goes to bed fine and then wakes up not being able to hear anything, and that's the end of it - surely it'd be a far slower deterioration in his circumstances, and I don't think there was anything to suggest he was already experiencing hearing loss. I get it's a film, but a lot of things seemed to happen unrealistically quickly.

From my non-scientific understanding, this is totally possible, though it probably depends on the cause. It's left vague as to whether it's caused by his music.

Noodle Lizard

Quote from: popcorn on May 11, 2021, 05:52:05 PM
From my non-scientific understanding, this is totally possible, though it probably depends on the cause. It's left vague as to whether it's caused by his music.

I could imagine experiencing acute damage (at a concert etc.) and then it getting progressively worse, but it's presented as if he goes to sleep with ears full of sound and then wakes up unable to hear anything at all and it's permanent. The reasonable interpretation given what the film shows us is that it is caused by his music, I don't think there's anything to suggest it's to do with any other kind of defect.

I should look it up, I suppose. I only know one deaf person and they were born that way, but musicians I've met with hearing damage say it's a long-term progressive thing.

popcorn

My understanding is that it takes an incredibly loud noise to blow your ears in one go - something less like amps and drum kits, and more like bombs, as happened to Joe in Vietnam. So I assumed Ruben's hearing loss wasn't caused by his music but just by bad luck - just something going wrong in his body because sometimes that happens.

It didn't distract me personally, but it's definitely reasonable to wonder if the music was supposed to have caused it, and probably it's another tiny base they could have covered in one or two lines of dialogue in the doctor's conversation. You'd expect Ruben, as a drummer, to ask if that had caused it. Even if it's just the doctor hedging his bets and saying "it's a mystery!", it would be a bit of direction for the audience who might otherwise get distracted wondering what they're meant to assume.

El Unicornio, mang

Quote from: Noodle Lizard on May 11, 2021, 05:48:20 PM
Also, how likely is it to go more or less completely permanently deaf overnight? From what I remember, he goes to bed fine and then wakes up not being able to hear anything, and that's the end of it - surely it'd be a far slower deterioration in his circumstances, and I don't think there was anything to suggest he was already experiencing hearing loss. I get it's a film, but a lot of things seemed to happen unrealistically quickly.

I was reading the reddit page for it and someone said it happened to their friend, and that Riz's reaction when it first occurred was EXACTLY the same as how they reacted. So I reckon there was probably quite a bit of research.

I liked it generally, although the stuff with his girlfiend/her Dad/his past drug troubles could have been fleshed out and maybe the film could have been 30 mins longer rather than shorter.

Sebastian Cobb

I thought this was great. Agreed the sound design was amazing too.

Ironically I saw it in the cinema as part of a deaf-inclusive/sponsored captioned thing, the cinema wasn't busy, but given the nattering in the preamble, I suspect the screening was full of hearing people like me who actually wanted to go for the sound aspect. (not a complaint obvs)

KennyMonster