Any other year, Darius Marder’s debut film may have flown under the radar of sorts, buried among a sea of superhero flicks, remakes and sequels. But this is 2020 and with pretty much everything shifting to next year, many of smaller budget movies have opted to go directly to streaming. For some, this means getting an audience that may have otherwise ignored or missed them during a traditional theatrical run.

I can only hope that this applies to Marder’s beautiful “Sound of Metal” streaming on Amazon Prime.

The drama starring Riz Ahmed and Olivia Cooke in award-worthy performances centers around heavy metal drummer and recovering addict Ruben (Ahmed) and his girlfriend/bandmate Lou (Cooke) as he suddenly begins to lose his hearing. Devastated and grasping at ways to continue playing, he hides his condition at first until a particularly bad performance where he has to come clean with his prognosis. Lou convinces him to seek help with an AA community comprised entirely of deaf and hard -of -hearing people.

The couple promises each other that when Ruben feels well enough, they’ll get back together and figure out a way to perform again. Lou flies off to her father’s in Paris while Ruben begins to navigate life without the use of sound, with the help of community leader Joe (Paul Raci).

Ruben is understandably angry at his situation and longs for a cochlear implant that will allow him to hear again. But as Joe and others in this community teach him, besides American Sign Language, is how to live without sound. To them, it is not something that needs to be fixed and for a moment, it seems like Ruben may come around to that idea too until time passes and he sees Lou performing solo in Paris.

Here is where the film hits a melancholic stride. Driven by his addiction to their relationship and the music he is so desperate to return to, Ruben does whatever he can to get back to his beloved.

The whole film is almost unnerving to watch if you have your full hearing capabilities, with the sound design full of lush everyday auditory mixes then suddenly plunging into what it sounds and feels like to lose it all. What you hear is best described as being stuck underwater with cotton in your ears.

This is something the filmmakers took into careful consideration when crafting the soundscape that goes along with “Sound of Metal.” Everything is as it would sound to someone who has lost their hearing in the same manner as Ruben from the underwater cotton to the metallic tinged tones that cochlear implants create.

Despite the unsettling nature of the sounds, they are expertly rendered and fit perfectly within the story.

Co-written by Darius and Abraham Marder, the script flows almost effortlessly through the indeterminate period of time where we follow Ruben’s journey and there’s nothing really hokey about the dialogue. Everything feels very natural and raw as Ruben navigates his new life.

Which brings me to the acting, of which this film would fall apart with lesser performers.

Ahmed has been one to watch for a while, always delivering performances with great care in regards to the project. Here he shines in a nuanced and realistic performance that should solidify him among other great actors of this era.

Cooke is also a force to reckoned with, never approaching the standard “terrified girlfriend” trope or even coming close to other stereotypical kinds of performances. Instead, she gracefully navigates a truthful performance to the role.

Created with the intent on the audience watching it in closed captioning to give another level of understanding between the hearing and deaf communities, and utilizing deaf and hard of hearing actors and advocates among the cast (Ahmed also learned ASL for the role), the film feels more inclusive than many other films made featuring deaf characters.

It never panders or feels over the top inspirational, it just is and is gorgeously crafted at that.

“Sound of Metal”

120 minutes

Rating: R for language throughout and brief nude images

4 stars