“Sound of Metal” is a film with a potent, searing hook.
It stars Riz Ahmed, who is such a sensational actor (just watch him in “Jason Bourne” or “Nightcrawler” or “The Sisters Brothers”), as Ruben, a punk-metal drummer, heavy on the tattoos and peroxide, who has been thrashing away as part of a caterwauling noise band for so long that he’s losing his hearing.
The prospect of slipping into a disability like this one sounds devastating, and in this case there’s an added emotional factor: Ruben did it to himself.
I don’t mean to sound like I’m playing blame-the-victim when it comes to rock ‘n’ roll musicians and hearing loss, but since what’s happening to Ruben is happening as a result of choices he made, the drama of his condition amounts to — or should — some sort of reckoning.The opening scene, with the camera fixed
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