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I want to remember every minute, always, always to the end of my days.

Brief Encounter (1945) dir. David Lean

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I stood there and watched his train draw out of the station. I stared after it until its taillight had vanished into the darkness. I imagined him getting out at Churley… giving up his ticket… walking back through the streets… letting himself into his house with his latchkey. His wife - Madeleine - would probably be in the hall to meet him. Or perhaps upstairs in her room, not feeling very well. ‘Small, dark, and rather delicate.’ I wondered if he’d say, “I met such a nice woman at the Kardomah. We had lunch and went to the pictures.” Then suddenly, I knew that he wouldn’t. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he wouldn’t say a word. At that moment, the first awful feeling of danger swept over me….

Brief Encounter (1945) dir. David Lean

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This can’t last. This misery can’t last. I must remember that and try to control myself. Nothing lasts really. Neither happiness nor despair. Not even life lasts very long. Brief Encounter (1945) dir. David Lean

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I wonder, all these mornings you’ve been sitting in my study, sitting, have you had any moments of stillness? Because you’re right, Ruben. The world does keep moving, and it can be a damn cruel place. But for me… those moments of stillness, that place, that’s the kingdom of God. And that place will never abandon you.

— Sound of Metal (2019), dir. Darius Marder

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45. Hytti Nro 6 | Compartment No. 6  (2021) | dir. Juho Kuosmanen

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Compartment No. 6 (dir. Juho Kuosmanen)

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Sound of Metal Commentary

Sound of Metal - Welcoming the Serenity of the Sound of Silence

Director: Darius Marder

Cinematography: Daniel Bouquet

Genre: Drama

This commentary contains spoilers as I describe the plot in detail!

Upon first glance at the poster, I had an odd feeling that this film would be quite like Whiplash, one of my all time favourites. It was likely my simple mind went "about a drummer who loves drumming, must be like Whiplash!". This film is not Whiplash, and I am glad for it.

The film follows Ruben (Riz Ahmed), a drummer in a heavy metal duo with his girlfriend, Lou (Olivia Cooke). They embark on their tour of the US, performing gigs at intimate but lively venues. It is after one of these gigs that Ruben begins to lose his hearing, eventually becoming almost entirely deaf. Desperate to get his hearing back, he visits the pharmacy, and then a doctor who tells him there is not much he can do apart from reducing his exposure to loud sounds, obviously implying he stop drumming. This is something Ruben is unwilling to accept. He sets his sights on saving up for expensive cochlear implants which, he believes, will 'cure' him.

After a poor performance during one of their gigs, Ruben admits to Lou that he can't hear anything. Throughout their heated conversations, it becomes clear that Ruben used to be an addict. Lou increasingly worries that he will use again because of the distress caused by his hearing loss. Ruben eventually joins a centre for deaf recovering addicts when Lou reassures him that they'll reunite and continue their music after he gets better.

The pacing of this film was incredibly clever, and undoubtedly part of the idea of 'achieving serenity' that Marder wishes to convey. We begin the film thrusted into one of Ruben's performances, almost immediately swept into the exhilaration of it all. Then we're bathed in domestic tranquillity as he and Lou drive from city to city in their cozy RV, making each other green smoothies and listening to soft tunes, driving through lush fields and countryside.

When Ruben loses his hearing, we are dropped into a strangely silent world of chaos and desperation. It is only when Ruben agrees to join the community for deaf recovery addicts that the film really slows down, that there is room to breathe. It's a shaky beginning for him at first, since he knows no sign language and because of this is painfully isolated. Joe (Paul Raci), the leader of the centre gives Ruben only one task: LEARN HOW TO BE DEAF. Of course, Ruben has still not come to terms with the fact that this is permanent, that he is deaf. We begin to wonder whether Ruben was right, whether this was a bad idea. But with the help of Joe and sign language teacher Diane (Lauren Ridloff), as time passes, he finally begins to integrate, becoming a valued member of the deaf community.

He's no longer alone, he's laughing at the dinner table with the other residents, he's teaching children how to drum, and he's making friends! In a beautiful way, he shows that he can continue to live out his passion for drumming while spreading this joy on to others.

But Ruben can't help but wonder what has become of Lou. He can't help himself when he sneakily uses the centre's computer to check up on her. With an expression that is difficult to decipher, Ruben watches a video of her performing, though the genre is vastly different from that of their heavy metal duo days. He resolves to return to recover his hearing, return to her, and return to the music scene.

To this end, he sells his RV and his possessions, including his beloved drum kit, all so he can afford the cochlear implants he was so set upon. He undergoes his surgery and returns to the centre. But there, he finds Joe waiting for him, saddened and disappointed by Ruben's decision. His opinion of what Ruben has done is probably best summarised by his own words:

"As you know, everybody here shares in the belief that being deaf is not a handicap. Not something to fix. It's pretty important around here. All these kids... all of us, need to be reminded of it every day."

And so Ruben cannot be part of the community, because he simply doesn't share this belief, because his decision to get cochlear implants goes against everything the community stands for. Ruben lashes out, asking Joe "why it matters", stating that "everything passes". Joe responds:

"The world does keep moving, and it can be a damn cruel place. But for me, those moments of stillness, that place, that's the kingdom of God."

Ruben is asked to leave the community.

For a moment, we have some hope as Ruben goes to his second appointment, this time to set up the transmitter, but our hope is soon dashed. Of course the implants haven't restored his hearing fully - it was too good to be true. Instead he hears the world as a collection of odd robot-like sounds that are scratchy and shrill, almost unbearably so for the audience who hear these sounds through Ruben's implants.

We see Ruben once again alone, plunged in miserable solitude, and though he can hear, it's almost impossible for him to make sense of the world. We are reminded acutely of when he lost his hearing in the first place, when he struggled to communicate with Lou and the doctor, when he first joined the deaf community and sat in silence whilst others conversed in sign language all around him.

Wanting to return to drumming and still believing he will be able to, in spite of his disappointment with the cochlear implants, he visits Lou's father's large home where she has been staying. Her wealthy father hosts a rather formal dinner party, at which he asks Lou to sing while he plays the piano. Together, they sing a duet in French while Ruben looks on. Her singing is beautiful to our ears, though we cannot understand the words. But soon the sound of Lou's delicate singing and her father's harmonising morphs into something even more indecipherable and unrecognisable, something robotic and digital. We are hearing what Ruben hears. He has recovered his hearing, but can no longer understand Lou or even bear to hear her sing because of the distortion caused by his implants. This time, he finally accepts that they're no longer walking the same path, that Lou has moved on from the past, and that he must, too.

The message of the plot is helpfully conveyed through Bouquet's beautiful cinematography and colour-grading. In almost all moments of peace and serenity in Ruben's life, we see bright colours, soft greens and gentle breeze. We see this when he and Lou are driving peacefully in his RV, when he finally begins to integrate into the deaf community, and when he realises that he can bring joy to the deaf children through the reverberation caused by drumming.

These lush greens are a stark contrast against the dull greys and browns we see when Ruben first loses his hearing, and again when he completes his cochlear procedure. The world has once again lost its colour and tranquillity, despite the fact that he can hear once more.

At the end of the film, Ruben leaves Lou's house and aimlessly wanders through a lush park until he finds a bench. Ruben sits, staring despairingly up at a bell tower that is chiming deafeningly, sounding unbearable to the audience through Ruben's ears. He takes off his transmitter and it's a relief to the audience as we are basked in peaceful silence. There are soft green bushes in the background, some pinkish flowers blurred behind Ruben.

The expression on Ruben's face is that of serenity, and like Joe said, "serenity is no longer wishing you had a different past". Ruben has finally learned how to be deaf. He has finally found his "kingdom of God".

I watched this on a plane, but a sorely wish I'd seen it in cinemas. Between the phenomenal acting, especially by Riz Ahmed, the incredible sound-design, the gorgeous cinematography, perfect pacing and surprisingly hopeful ending, I gave it a 9 out of 10.

Ellen's Rating: 9/10 (06/07/2022)

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The world does keep moving, and it can be a damn cruel place. But for me, those moments of stillness: that place, that’s the kingdom of God. And that place will never abandon you.

SOUND OF METAL (2019)

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“He knew no more of love, he told himself, than he did of tears, but he enjoyed sitting there. And he enjoyed the conversation which seemed to him on the verge of taking an even more sprightly turn. In other words, he knew all there was to know about love, that it’s the delight of being in the presence of the loved one.” — Thomas Savage, The Power of the Dog

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The Power of the Dog (2021) dir. Jane Campion, cinematography by Ari Wegner

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I lay it down as a general rule, Harriet, that if a woman doubts whether she should accept a man or not, she certainly ought to refuse him.

A FILM FOR EVERY YEAR OF MY LIFE ➤ Emma. (February 13, 2020) dir. Autumn de Wilde

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Hvad er ungdom?

En drøm.

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Druk (2020) dir. Thomas Vinterberg

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Another Round Review

Thomas Vinterberg’s latest film is a complex and realistic depiction of drinking culture,  skilfully demonstrating both the highs and the lows. Another Round or Druk (Danish for binge-drinking) explores four high-school teachers attempt at maintaining constant alcohol intoxication to determine whether it helps them in the workplace, somewhere they feel they have lost passion that once made their jobs so fulfilling.

The film sees alcohol in its legitimate sense: that is the most popular recreational drug. Another Round gently asks the viewer to contemplate this fact, that although alcohol may go hand in hand with western culture and customs, should a drug like alcohol hold so much influence over a nations people? While understanding of alcohol’s popularity, Another Round’s binge-drinking sees its protagonists reputations with peers and co-workers left in tatters. However, they exchange this lost respect for a newfound connection with their teenage pupils, brought about by alcohol’s ability to make the four teachers feel younger; to relive their youth after becoming jaded by the mundanities of everyday adulthood. This escapism they achieve through their alcoholic experiment is construed in the film’s expertly chosen theme:

Don’t know where I’m in five but I’m young and alive

Fuck what they are saying, what a life…

I was shocked to find Another Round’s portrayal of alcohol use strike such a familiar chord with my own experience, both first and second hand, leaving me reconsidering the extent of my intake of the western world’s most popular recreational drug. Ah, what am I saying, I’m off to the pub.

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Druk (2020) dir. Thomas Vinterberg

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The beautiful cinematography of Another Round

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Another Round, 2020