Many people think that film is a visual art, mainly seen with the eyes. But, to be precise, cinema is a synthetic art that appeals not only to the visual but also to the auditory. This "Sound of Metal", which won 6 nominations for best picture, best actor and best sound effects at this year's Academy Awards, is a film that mainly appeals to hearing, a very rare film that belongs to sound.
The film's protagonist, Ruben Stone, is a band drummer who travels around with his girlfriend Louise in a motorhome. The duo of Ruben and Louise is a very popular heavy metal band at the moment, characterized by deafening drums and sopranos that pierce the eardrums. The manic singing at the beginning of the film almost made me give up watching the film.
Years of intense vocal stimulation finally caused Ruben to lose his hearing, but he did not have the money to install a cochlear implant, so he chose to go to a community of deaf people for help. In this community, Ruben gradually learned to communicate with his peers, adapted to life without hearing, and taught the children to play drums.
However, life without sound is unimaginable for drummers. So Ruben dropped his motorhome and all the instruments and sounds, went for cochlear implant surgery, and looked forward to returning to the music world. What I didn't expect was that the cochlear implant was twisted into a harsh and sharp metallic sound. Listening to his girlfriend's beautiful singing voice turn into a cold metal sound, Ruben burst into tears. He realized that he could no longer return to the world full of beautiful sounds.
The story of "The Sound of Metal" is not much novel, what is new is the sound design of the film. The film's sound director, Nicholas Becker, uses sound as the film's most important means of storytelling, allowing us to feel the fear that Ruben can't hear the sound.
The silence after Reuben's sudden deafness is in stark contrast to the earth-shaking manic music of the past. Ruben's sign language communication with Louise and friends in the deaf community contrasted sharply with his eagerness to return to normal society. The metallic sound of cochlear implants is in stark contrast to the beautiful sounds in memory.
The intense noise and the silence of the crowd give The Sound of Metal an extraordinary sound appeal. This is the best film I've ever seen with sound elements. We've seen a lot of movies shot from a character's subjective point of view, but we haven't seen a movie shot with a character's subjective hearing. This contrasting subjective hearing gives people a strong shock, and finally lets us realize the indispensability of human hearing and the incomparable beauty of all sounds in the world.
Corresponding to the clever use of sound to tell the story is the wonderful performance of Ritz Ahmed, the male protagonist of "Sound of Metal". He vividly expressed the fear, disappointment, and mania of drummer Reuben after he became deaf, touching his heart. His deep eyes give us a clear view of the helpless trepidation, the confusion, and the peace of finally letting go of the obsession of returning to the past. Because of his outstanding performance in "The Sound of Metal", Ritz Ahmed was nominated for Best Actor at this year's Academy Awards.
However, the best part of "Sound of Metal" is the ending. Although the cochlear implant regained the ability to communicate with people, the sound coming from the cochlea has lost the beauty of memory, and the melodious bells have become harsh metal screams. When Ruben sat down and took off the cochlear implant, the sudden silence finally made him realize that maybe it was time to start a new life.
Modern technology can restore people's sense of hearing, but it is not real hearing, but a metallic vibration. Turning the beautiful sounds of nature into metallic vibrations in memory is unacceptable to a music-obsessed drummer. Just at this moment, the children around him reminded him of the innocent faces of the children in the deaf community, and the simple and natural sign language of the deaf partners. They inspired him in that silent world, and made him understand that life is like this, that it will pass and that it will pass.
Related Reading:
Oscar review of "Father": a good movie that is really worth watching
Oscar reviews of "The Land of NoBody" and "Minari": "The world of banana people" we don't understand
Oscar review of "Mank": a gossip story about a great movie