The Sound of My Voice (SOMV) is the first feature film by director Zal Batmanglij. The film stars Brit Marling (Another Earth) who also starred in the director’s short film, The Recordist. This time, Brit co-wrote the film with Batmanglij and in this collaboration they created an understated masterpiece. Playing in a cast filled with subtle performances, the two lead actors Christopher Denham (Shutter Island) and Nicole Vicius (Last Days) still stand out.
The film is an exercise in simplicity. The story follows Denham’s and Vicius’s characters Peter and Lorna, a couple who decide to embed themselves undercover in a mysterious and dangerous cult. When the two make it into the cult’s inner circle, they meet Marling’s character Maggie who is the centerpiece of this bizarre religion that believes Maggie is sent from the year 2057 to prepare them for the coming apocalypse. Maggie fortifies her tales of the future with generalities that leave as much room for skepticism as they do for belief. In this world, the two find themselves trapped by danger, fanaticism, and doubts: a rabbit hole you fall into along with them.
The success of this film is its journey and the care with which it avoids overselling itself. From the script and staging to the sets and acting, the film demonstrates a magnificent degree of restraint. It is in this restraint that the audience is allowed to form each and every emotion as our characters do. Perfection in its execution is only missed by a few jarringly out-of-place flashbacks and an argument scene where the dialogue doesn’t quite work. But, with so much else working in such harmony, you leave the film almost forgetting those scenes took place at all.
The true test of a film like this is its ending. Everything depends on the film delivering on a promise that it builds you up to. You expect something, you want it to shock you, you need it to fool you. It is the weight of an expectation like this that most films fail to meet that expectation and, it is with precision and modesty that this film drops its conclusion on you and leaves you hooked, lost, and a believer.
Rating: An understated masterpiece that makes you a true believer (9/10)
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