History Film / SoundOfMetal

The film centers around Ruben Stone (Ahmed), a metal drummer in the avant-garde band Blackgammon with his lead singer girlfriend Lou (Cooke). At the start of the film, the band is touring America in an RV, but the morning after a show, Ruben discovers that his hearing is deteriorating rapidly, and he can't afford the expensive cochlear implants he wants in order to continue drumming. Desperate to help her partner, Lou arranges for Ruben to stay with a house full of deaf community members in order to accept and adjust to his new way of life.

** The opening scene is of Blackgammon's concert, focusing mostly on Ruben's performance. After the title card, there is a hard cut from guitar feedback to silence as Ruben is seen waking up in the RV. [[spoiler:In the final scene, Ruben removes his cochlear processors, and the film audio instantaneously shifts from the distorted sound he hears to silence. Of additional note is that a nearby church bell that was distorting Ruben's hearing perception is heard (by him and the audience) in such a way that it seems to replicate the sound of a crashing cymbal.]]

* ChoreCharacterExploration: Lou's father Richard is cooking when Ruben arrives to visit Lou. Richard repeatedly insists that he doesn't need Ruben's assistance as Ruben keeps offering to help out with the chore. The scene provides some Five Minute Foreshadowing that Ruben and Lou have grown apart from their codependent relationship.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: [[spoiler:Ruben finally get the cochlear implant surgery, but they do not allow Ruben to hear in a traditional sense and cause irritating feedback that disrupt his attempts to regain his old way of life]].

*** This is somewhat dependent on the individual doctor, but [[spoiler: most medical professionals would have made some effort to lower Ruben’s high expectations - even in the best case scenario, implants never provide a 100% replication of true acoustic sound.]]

-->--'''Joe'''

** The opening scene is of Blackgammon's concert, focusing mostly on Ruben's performance. After the title card, there is a hard cut from guitar feedback to silence as Ruben is seen waking up in the RV. [[spoiler:In the final scene, Ruben removes his cochlear processors, and the film audio instantaneously shifts from the distorted sound of the processors to silence. Of additional note is that the nearby church bell that was distorting Ruben's hearing perception is heard (by Ruben and the audience) in such a way that it seems to replicate the sound of his own concert.]]

* DoubleMeaningTitle: Refers to both the sound of the metal Ruben and Lou play, and [[spoiler:the metallic qualities of the distorted sound Ruben hears with his cochlear processors]].
* DreamCrushingHandicap: Lou and Ruben are touring playing music they love when Ruben all of a sudden loses his hearing.

** Anger when he smashes many of his things in the RV.

* InnocentlyInsensitive: Ruben doesn't stop to think that [[spoiler:curing his deafness would be insulting to the other members of the community]]. It isn't until Joe informs him how [[spoiler:them knowing would reinforce the idea that they're broken]] that Ruben realizes this.

Ruben Stone (Ahmed) is a metal drummer on tour with his lead singer/girlfriend Lou (Cooke). The morning after a show, Ruben discovers that his hearing is deteriorating rapidly, and he can't afford the expensive cochlear implants he wants in order to continue drumming. Desperate to help her partner, Lou arranges for Ruben to stay with a house full of deaf community members in order to accept and adjust to his new way of life.

The film was critically acclaimed and wound up winning Best Sound and Best Film Editing, as well as scoring several Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Ahmed (the first Muslim to be nominated for this honor), Best Original Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor for Paul Raci who played Joe, the deaf community leader; a performance that significantly raised the previously unknown elderly actor's profile.

*** [[spoiler: In terms of their efficacy, the initial experience can be even *worse* than shown in the film. However, the experience usually improves over time as the brain adjusts to the new stimuli. By the time Ruben gets to France, his hearing should have been far better than the film portrays.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Leaning towards the "downer" end of the spectrum, though with a great deal of ambiguity for what lies in Ruben's future. Ruben gains a semblance of hearing via cochlear implants, but finds their recreation of sound a pale imitation of what he once had, leaving his future in music in question. Not only that, the operation costs him his home, all of his material possessions, and his newfound belonging in the Deaf community. He reunites with Lou, but both realize that the time they spent apart has made them very different people. The film ends with Ruben removing the implant processors, embracing the silence]].

** The opening scene is of Blackgammon's concert, focusing mostly on Ruben's performance. After the title card, there is a hard cut from guitar feedback to silence as Ruben is seen waking up in the RV. [[spoiler:In the final scene, Ruben removes his cochlear processors to sit in silence. In a clever trick by the sound design team, the nearby church bell that was distorting Ruben's hearing perception is heard (by Ruben and the audience) in such a way that it seems to replicate the sound of his own concert.]]

* FiveStagesOfGrief: One could interpret Ruben going through these: Denial when he thinks he and Lou can keep playing together. Anger when he smashes many of his things in the RV. Bargaining when he sells all his stuff to get the implants. Depression when he realizes the implants aren’t what he thought they’d be and that his life will never be the same. [[spoiler:Acceptance when he takes the implants out at the end and seems at peace with being deaf.]]

* InnocentlyInsensitive: Ruben doesn't stop to think that [[spoiler: curing his deafness would be insulting to the other members of the community]]. It isn't until Joe informs him how [[spoiler: them knowing would reinforce the idea that they're broken]] that Ruben realizes this.
* KeepingTheHandicap: [[DoubleSubvertedTrope Although it seems like a subversion at first, it becomes this trope at the end.]] [[spoiler:Ruben sells all he has to pay for the implant surgery, but everything he ends up hearing is a permanently bastardized version of what everyone else hears. He appears to find peace in the final scene when he decides to take off his aids and embrace deafness]].

* RayOfHopeEnding: [[spoiler:Ruben removing the implants at the end and having a peaceful expression on his face for the first time in the movie seems like he’s accepted being deaf.]]

The film was critically acclaimed and wound up winning Best Sound and Best Film Editing, as well as scoring several Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Ahmed (the first Muslim to be nominated for this honor), Best Original Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor for Paul Raci who played Joe; the deaf community leader, a performance that significantly raised the previously unknown elderly actor's profile.

* NothingIsTheSameAnymore: [[spoiler:Ruben finally reunites with Lou after several months of absence, thinking they will return to their normal personal, love and professional life. He soon realizes that both of them have changed during this period, and that there is no chance that they will ever go back to what they were before.]]

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** [[spoiler:Ruben finally get the cochlear implant surgery, but they do not allow Ruben to hear in a traditional sense and cause irritating feedback that disrupt his attempts to regain his old way of life]].
**

The film had its world premiere in the Platform Prize program at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2019. It was released theatrically on November 20, 2020, and began streaming on Creator/PrimeVideo on December 4, 2020, by Creator/AmazonStudios.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: [[spoiler:Ruben finally get the cochlear implant surgery, but they do not allow Ruben to hear in a traditional sense and cause irritating feedback that disrupt his attempts to regain his old way of life]].

* DreamCrushingHandicap: Lou and Ruben are touring playing music they love when Ruben all of a sudden loses his hearing.

* KeepingTheHandicap: [[DoubleSubvertedTrope Altough it seems like a subversion at first, it becomes this trope at the end.]] [[spoiler:Ruben sells all he has to pay for the implant surgery, but everything he ends up hearing is a permanently bastardized version of what everyone else hears. He appears to find peace in the final scene when he decides to take off his aids and embrace deafness]].

* RealityEnsues: [[spoiler:Ruben finally get the cochlear implant surgery, but they do not allow Ruben to hear in a traditional sense and cause irritating feedback that disrupt his attempts to regain his old way of life]].