There was a version of Sound of Metal in which Darius Marder and his co-writer and brother Abraham, tried to tell both Lou (Olivia Cooke) and Ruben’s (Riz Ahmed) stories - but cross-cutting risked losing their potency. Instead, when Lou walks down her path we instead follow Ruben on what he thinks is a quest to get his hearing back, but is really his search for stillness.
The early scenes are the most fertile for watching (and re-watching), as you realise how deftly the Marders expose Ruben and Lou’s past trauma and their co-dependence. As their RV floats from gig to gig, the couple’s conversation could seem like throwaway chatter, but instead it reveals hidden pain and struggle beneath laughter and jokes: Ruben doesn't become lost when he loses his hearing, we come to understand, he had already been lost for some time.
Ruben's hearing disappears so rapidly he doesn't have time to process it, and when it abandons him entirely his bubble silently pops. From here, the film depicts the classic five stages of grief, with bargaining and depression visited during scenes at Joe’s (Paul Raci) sober house. Raci’s portrayal of a man who cares so much but must make harsh decisions for the good of his group is the one that really hits home emotionally - the scenes between him and Ahmed are undoubtedly what got them both Oscar nods.
But let's talk about the real big hitter of the film. The Oscar winner. The sound in Sound of Metal. Where most films have visual set-pieces, Sound of Metal has audio sequences that blow you away. If you are one of those movie goers that asks ‘how tf did they do that?’ then you’ll be baffled by how naturally Becker recreates the feeling of being deaf through sound.
For those in this camp: here’s how he did it. Becker used a number of unnatural methods, of which an underwater microphone inside Riz Ahmed’s mouth was probably the most conventional. He also employed a geophone, normally used when prospecting for oil, along with a DIY stethoscope to record the sounds of Ahmed’s organs at work, blood pressure and tendons. In other moments, Becker had multiple microphones recording at same time. It’s innovative techniques like these that almost swaps the places of camera and microphone in the film: where score and sound design usually play second fiddle, now it’s the turn of the visuals to step out of the spotlight.
Although true of almost every film, Sound of Metal really benefits from a rewatch, especially for the cine-phile bums out there, because the density of craft that has gone into every facet of the film is staggering and well worth peeling back the layers. Every aspect of this film has been honed and concentrated by master artists; it’s almost as if having great writers, great actors, great cinematography and great sound makes a great movie, who would have thought it. A beautiful story, well told, that’s what film is all about. Now I had better stop before i say something wankier than ‘density of craft.’
