THE SOUND OF METAL

Ruben, a touring drummer, begins to lose his hearing mid-tour. The film follows what happens when the thing that defines you disappears overnight. It does not frame deafness as something to fix. Instead, it places Ruben inside a community that asks him to accept a different way of living, and to sit with silence rather than fight it.

Riz Ahmed gives a performance that stays close to the body, built on rhythm, panic, and restraint. Paul Raci brings calm, patience, and a sense of lived experience that shifts the film’s direction. The sound design moves between clarity and disorientation, putting you inside Ruben’s changing perception of the world.

Winner of 2 Academy Awards including Best Sound. A film about control, dependence, and what it means to let go of the version of yourself you thought was fixed.