Sound of Metal is a 2019 American drama film directed and co-written by Darius Marder and starring Riz Ahmed, Olivia Cooke, Paul Raci, Lauren Ridloff and Mathieu Amalric. It tells the story of a drummer who begins to lose his hearing.
The film had its world premiere in the Platform Prize program at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2019. It will be released theatrically on November 20, 2020, and streaming on Prime Video on December 4, 2020, by Amazon Studios.
Ruben is a drummer and one half of the duo Blackgammon along with his singer girlfriend Lou. A former drug addict, he is sober for four years. Suddenly, he begins to lose his hearing. His sponsor makes him go meet Joe, who leads a deaf community. With the help from them, Ruben struggles to accept his situation.
The film won the Golden Eye for Best Film in the International Feature Film Competition category at the 15th Zurich Film Festival.
To make the film believable Ahmed learned to play the drums, learn American Sign Language (ASL) and essentially push himself to the limits playing this ex-heroin addict who with his hearing loss fears that he may lose everything: his livelihood, his girlfriend and bandmate (Olivia Cooke), and his identity.
“We wanted to do something that was all in,” Ahmed said. “We just wanted to really connect to how overwhelming and invigorating and terrifying it can be to kind of throw yourself into the deep end of a creative endeavor.”
Sound of Metal IMDB: HERE
