This is what we're watching: The Sound of Metal is an inspiring drama that gives you goosebumps
Miscellaneous / / June 27, 2023
This movie about hearing loss won an Oscar for Best Sound.
In the new series Articles every week I talk about what films and TV shows struck me.
In 2021, an atypical film about music, more precisely, about a musician who loses his hearing, was nominated for an Oscar. "Sounds of Metal" lost the main award to "Land of Nomads", but won in the category "Best Sound".
And the Oscar was well-deserved. The hero loses his hearing, and the viewer does it with him. Artful transitions from loud metal to silence, as well as a large amount of audio distortion that the main character hears, look like a separate storyline. Viewing the picture turns into an experiment in the spirit of "imagine being deaf" - creepy, but bright.
If we consider the story itself in isolation from the visual and sound design, then “The Sound of Metal” is an exemplary parable. Sometimes pathetic, but still instructive. What is the value of a character who explains with all his might that the lack of hearing is not a problem, but a gift.
"Sounds of Metal" brilliantly balances between form and content, between parable and vivid drama. Considering how terrible films about musicians turn out, The Sound of Metal looks like a super-successful experiment that definitely deserves to be watched.
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