Monday, May 14, 2012

Sound of My Voice


Early in Sound of My Voice, the fabulously eerie, remarkably clever tiny psychological thriller barely in theaters right now, a couple is taken through the initial motions of attending their first cult session. (Is "session" the right word? Do cults have sessions? Get-togethers? Do they chill? Conspire? Meet?)

Anyway, Peter and Lorna are taken to a suburban home, told to disrobe, shower, and put on a hospital gown before they are handcuffed, blindfolded, eased into a minivan, and driven to another suburban home where they are led downstairs and told to sit patiently with the other members.  After a few moments, out walks Maggie, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed goddess hidden behind a white shawl. Maggie says she’s from the future, and she’s here now to collect a group of people to take with her. Where? I’m not really sure, but that’s not exactly the point.


Soon after, it is revealed that Peter and Lorna are amateur documentarians secretly attempting to capture the inside of a cult. They aren’t buying into whatever Maggie is selling, and, as an audience, neither are we. Until, of course, we are. Maybe.
Christopher Denham and Nicole Vicius as Peter and Lorna
And that’s the subtle beauty of Sound of My Voice, it’s a simple film with a simple theme, yet it is executed as an extended, understated riddle. Don’t get me wrong, Sound of My Voice is, more or less, rather straight forward, it’s just so expertly written and acted that we’re forced to wonder. Which, in this case, is a very good thing.

Christopher Denham and Nicole Vicius play Peter and Lorna respectively, and they play them well. Despite the fact that the actors have had bit roles in a number of films and TV shows, I can’t recall ever seeing them. No matter, what they do with their very complex, very evolving characters here is extremely satisfying. They’re challenging roles, and they both nail it.

Likewise Brit Marling, who plays Maggie as a calm, aware young woman who is just as confounded about why she is where she is when she is, as much as everyone else. You may remember Marling as the star of last summer’s Another Earth, which, like Sound of My Voice, she co-wrote and co-produced. Funny story: Marling, Mike Cahill (director of Another Earth) and Zal Batmanglij (director of Sound of My Voice) were three college friends who decided to make movies together. Both Another Earth and Sound of My Voice premiered at Sundance at the same time, and both are slowly letting people know that there are some fresh, new talents in town, and they need not be ignored.
Brit Marling as Maggie
Sound of My Voice is a far superior film from the well-acted but tremendously flawed Another Earth. Both films carry with them refreshing mysteries, but Batmanglij’s feature is far more audacious and thought out.

So, is Maggie telling the truth? Is she indeed from the future, sent back inexplicably to recruit trusting followers? Hell if I’m going to tell you here. Instead, do your best to seek out what I consider the best film currently in theaters. And remember, look closer. A-

10 comments:

  1. I really want to see this film. I recently saw Another Earth and kinda fell in love with Brit Marling. She's such a talented young woman. That's so cool how she and her friends all decided to make movies together, too!

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    1. Ooohh if you have anywhere near as big a crush on her as I do, then you'll love Marling in this. I didn't like Another Earth in terms of story and execution, but I thought she was remarkable in it. She's better in this, so try to see it if you can!

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  2. Great review! I'm definetly going to see this one, didn't realize it existed until I read your write up.

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    1. Thanks! It's such a shame that it's so hidden right now. Mass audiences will really dig it.

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  3. I thought Martha marcy may marlene was an interesting depiction of a cult, I'm curious if this has anything more to add, and what direction it takes.
    Judging from your review(which I will wait to read once I have seen it), it does something right!

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    1. I won't give anything away here, but let me just say that Sound of My Voice is a completely different depiction of cult life than MMMM. I enjoyed MMMM, but I LOVED Sound of My Voice.

      Hope you're feeling okay!

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  4. I walked out of MMMM because the cult life was so creepy. I would like to rent this because of Brit Marling. Would I enjoy it? Or would I turn it off as well?

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    1. It is very very different from MMMM. I don't think it would creep you out at all, or at least not in the way MMMM did. You should definitely check it out if it's playing near you.

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  5. My 90 yr. old movie buff father and I got mixed up on the start time of this film, but decided to go ahead and go in anyway (he doesn't like the late showings).. anyway, we missed the first 10 minutes or so... I'm not sure if that's why it felt like there were so many loose ends. When the credits were rolling, I was just settling in for all the intriguing, surprising resolutions that I was sure were coming. Maybe this was explained in the part I missed... what was up with the little girl's dad, and the creepy between the toes injections? Some good things going on in this film, but, like I said... lots of loose ends.

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    1. First off thanks so much for stopping by and commenting.

      Now, I have good news and bad news. The good news is, about two weeks before the film's release, Fox Searchlight released the first 12 minutes of the movie, which you can watch here. Hopefully that catches you up on what you missed. http://www.soundofmyvoicemovie.com/index2.html

      The bad news: that first scene won't help tie up any of the loose ends you mentioned. I think the film was very purposefully constructed the way it was, for better or worse. Sometimes ambiguous endings work really really well, but other times... the ambiguity is a bit too much. I think Sound of My Voice is somewhere between that.

      At any rate, I hope you enjoy the first scene of the movie!

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