Directed By: Zal Batmanglij
Starring: Christopher Denham, Nicole Vicius, Brit Marling
Rating: Rated R for language including some sexual references, and brief drug use.
Synopsis: In Los Angeles, a new cult has appeared led by a woman named Maggie (Marling) who claims to be from the future. A young couple, Peter (Denham) and Lorna (Vicius), join the cult in an effort to infiltrate it and make a documentary exposing Maggie for being a fraud. The deeper they're pulled into the cult, though, the bigger the question becomes of whether Maggie is who she says she is.
REVIEW
Andrew:
Hello readers! This afternoon Sarah and I made our way to a different theatre
than our usual haunt to catch a matinee of a smaller film we have been looking
forward to seeing – Sound of My Voice. We saw the trailer for this film a month or
so ago and it completely caught our attention because of the premise, and when
we found out it was playing in a theatre in Hartford, we just had to see it.
Sarah, the most prevalent thought in my head during the
entire movie was that I was glad we had little to no knowledge of what it was
going to be about ahead of time, and the entire time I had no idea where the
film was going and that was a good thing. Would you agree or disagree with me
on that?
Sarah: I
would agree. I would have to say that, while it bothered me at times that it
didn’t seem to go in a specific direction, that that was the point of the
movie.
A: Yeah, I
know what you mean by saying it didn’t seem to be going in one specific
direction. The movie had what looked like three different threads and for a
while there you really had no idea how they were going to end up connected. But
by the end of it, I felt the film pulled all three strings together quite
nicely even if the ending was a bit ambiguous.
S: This
movie surprised me a little bit. The way that the characters interacted was not
what I was expecting from a movie about a cult. They didn’t come off as crazy.
So remembered when we first saw the trailer, I was skeptical about what it was
going to be about. Was it going to be about this couple infiltrating this cult
or something more? Was it going to play in a predictable fashion? And it did
not play out in a predictable fashion. I never quite knew where I stood with
this movie.
 |
| Maggie (right) tries to get Peter to reveal some secrets from his past in front of the cult |
A:
Exactly. I found that the filmmaker, Zal Batmanglij, did a fantastic job
keeping us on our toes the entirety of the film. It is a VERY slow paced movie,
so it might not be for everybody, but the events in the film play out in a very
deliberate pace and I think that’s something some films don’t do well. That’s
not the case here.
With the different threads, I didn’t know where it was all
going to end up. With the main characters, Peter and Lorna, I didn’t know what
their fate was going to be. And with Maggie, even at the end I have no idea
whether she was legit or not. And for me personally, I found that to be
refreshing.
S: I
actually think that, while it WAS slow, it weren’t any dull parts. It all moved
toward a very deliberate place, but in my opinion, to a place we never fully
got to. Which, in a way, was quietly beautiful! It was probably one of the
best-written movies I’ve seen since Chronicle. It was very strongly an
independent film and one that I would hope does as well, to whatever extent,
that Chronicle
did.
A: I find
it interesting that you compare Sound of My Voice with Chronicle,
because they’re both science fiction movies done with a smaller budget and from
different kinds of point-of-view storytelling. I think that’s a good
comparison.
The two movies are about different things (one is about a
woman who claims to be from the future, the other about kids who gain
superpowers) and while they’re both low-budget I think that makes both of them
stronger character-wise. I was more invested in Peter and Lorna and the depths
they go to with this cult than I have been with most movies this year.
 |
| Lorna (middle) watches on as Peter does the cult's secret handshake with Maggie's right-hand man, Klaus |
S: That’s
exactly what I mean. I didn’t necessarily care where the movie took place, I
didn’t care about what happened externally of the characters, I was invested
with what happened to the characters. I wanted to know more. I didn’t leave
going “Ok, I know who this character is.” No, I left thinking “I want to know
more about these characters, I want to know more about how they felt.”
I don’t know if you noticed, but whenever another character
was talked about, it was never in their own voice. It was always done by
somebody else.
A: What do
you mean exactly?
S: Well
just that when we hear about Peter’s backstory, it’s voiced over by Lorna. And
vice versa. So we never really got to hear how the characters felt about their
own histories. Or how that shaped them to be the way that they are at the
beginning of the movie.
A: That’s
good point, and one of the many things I liked about the movie. In the same
vein, I liked that we always saw the cult from Peter and Lorna’s perspective,
both individually and as a couple. We saw the effects it started to have on
them in a very personal way, helped by a few choice scenes that were very
intense. I honestly can’t think of many negative things to say about Sound
of My Voice other than I do sort of wish we got a resolution to the
story. But at the same time, as I said earlier, I found it refreshing that it
was left ambiguous and up for interpretation.
S: And I would have to say that
when the movie ended I went “Hey wait? What happens?” And I think that’s what
the filmmakers were going for and they exceeded perfectly. So do you need to go
see this movie in theatres? Not necessarily. But if you have a hankering for an
independent movie that’s entertaining, this would be one to see.
A: I half
agree with you there, because I do think people should see this in theatres
simply so Batmanglij can make his possible sequel! I still kinda want to know
how the rest of the story goes!
 |
| (Out of Five Clapboards) |
