Sound of Metal

I really liked Sound of Metal, a new movie on Prime Video. The main character, Ruben, plays drums for a heavy metal band that screams passionate, esoteric angst to small crowds of black-clad modern punks in dank dingy halls. His hearing begins to rapidly and dramatically degrade, throwing his life into uncharted waters. 

For one, the narrative is original, which is always appreciated in today's franchised media industry. Every step felt unexpected. The uniqueness of story nurtured an empathy that flowered as the movie progressed; ardent character development, which happens in the passing scenes, the shots of daily intimacies and raw solitude, made this possible. And this, the empathy, was the real strength of the movie, I think. It's the most powerful thing an artist can create. 

 

Filming details, subtle yet discernible for the non-trained eye (mine), were a substantial part of the aesthetic quality. The audio specifically stood out. Perspective shifted, smoothly and frequently, from a ubiquitous narrator with acute hearing to Ruben in his stages of auditory deterioration. Dripping coffee. Vibrating drums. Honking buses. Clanging bells. The incongruity between the two realities was all the more evident because of this technique. 

Ruben is played by Riz Ahmed, who nailed the performance. He's was stellar in The Night Of and The Reluctant Fundamentalist too. Dude can act. In my view, he is a great representative of South Asian Muslims. His roles and style are atypical. This helps break pervasive stereotypes about South Asians, like the idea that we can't be in heavy metal bands. Ruben is not written as a South Asian character to be played by a South Asian actor. His character has nothing to do with Ahmed being South Asian. Ruben is ethnically ambiguous. Usually, minority actors only get cast in roles for characters of that same minority. The "generic" character is always white. It's cool to see Ahmed representing a person, not just a South Asian person. That's real equality.