Sound of Metal

 2/4

Starring: Riz Ahmed, Paul Raci, Olivia Cooke

Rated R for Language Throughout and Brief Nude Images

The problem with "Sound of Metal" is that it has an interesting central character and not much else.  Ruben Stone, played with tremendous skill and focus by Riz Ahmed, is a compelling individual.  Unfortunately, he's stuck in a movie that doesn't go anywhere and doesn't have anything interesting to say.

Deafness struck Ruben almost instantaneously.  At first it seemed like some mild tinnitus.  But then his hearing left almost completely and never came back.  The heavy metal drummer was a normal individual the day before, but now he has suddenly lost 75% of his hearing in both ears.  His girlfriend and lead singer Lou (Cooke), believes, perhaps correctly, that the ex-junkie Ruben is destined for a relapse into heroin use.  So they check him into a sober living house for the deaf, run by a kindly Vietnam vet named Joe (Raci).  Joe's policy means that Lou has to leave him there alone so Ruben can acclimate to the world of the deaf.  But Ruben has his heart set on getting a cochlear implant.

I've been impressed with Riz Ahmed for a long time.  Even in small roles like in "Centurion" or worthless ones like in "Four Lions," he always sticks out.  He held his own against a genuinely creepy Jake Gyllenhaal in the little-seen "Nightcrawler," and that is the mark of a good actor.  Here he gets a role he can attack with relish.  Ruben isn't some saintly sad sack we are supposed to weep for.  He's stubborn, and will believe anything or live in denial as long as it keeps with his intense obsession with returning to "normal."  He needs to regain his hearing.  Nothing else matters.  It's a very good performance because Ahmed never reaches.  There's never a moment where he seems to be "acting," and he is certainly not trying to make the audience reach for the tissues.

Once this has been established, co-writer/director Darius Marder seems unsure of where to take the character.  It's as if they had the premise and nothing else.  Like far too many indie filmmakers, he believes that actors staring into space and "ambiguity" can cover for the fact that the story feels like it is simultaneously treading old ground and going nowhere.  Marder runs out of ideas before the running time ends.  The final act, which includes a pointless scene with Lou's father (played by Mathieu Amalric), feels like it belongs in a different movie.  One performer that must be mentioned is Lauren Ridloff, who plays the teacher.  She has genuine warmth and appeal, despite not having a single line of dialogue or subtitled sign language.

"Sound of Metal" doesn't quite work.  I'm sure of that.  But I'm also sure that it is never boring.  But even a great performance needs support, and that doesn't happen here.  It's too busy avoiding melodrama to remember to tell a story.  But hey, at least Riz Ahmed and Paul Raci got Oscar nominations out of it.  Let's hope their next movies will be ones that are more worthy of their talents.

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