Sound of Metal is thoughtful in its refusal to offer pat solutions for complex and changeable medical circumstances, and immersive without being exploitative, never suggesting that it represents any monolithic experience of disability.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 23, 2024

What the film gets so right is that it’s not about fixing your physical flaws, but fixing your interpretation of those flaws...

| Jul 9, 2024

Usually, mainstream films depict afflictions and impairments as things that need to be fixed to make the person’s life whole again. “Sound of Metal,” conversely, makes sure that the objectivity stays intact.

| Original Score: A | Jul 4, 2024

For anyone who has tried to cope with a disability, this film will resonate and speak volumes for you as it accurately depicts the shock of a life-altering condition. Bring the tissues, because Sound of Metal cuts deep.

| Apr 23, 2024

Paul Raci has a gift of allowing his fellow actors space that is rare, indeed. But when he is allowed by the script to have emotional moments, he damn near steals the limelight, which is saying quite a lot given his scene partners.

| Feb 23, 2024

Darius Marder has crafted an incredible debut built around loss and fear that never wallows or becomes sentimental.

| Sep 17, 2023

The final scene of silence will be one that we will be thinking about for a while.

| Aug 22, 2023

Sound of Metal is another proof that Riz Ahmed is turning into one of the finest actors of his generation.

| Jul 20, 2023

No film from 2020 grew on me more than Sound of Metal. It’s a film that I thoroughly enjoyed when I first saw it, and I’ve grown to absolutely love it as it refuses to leave my mind.

| May 2, 2023

Riz Ahmed does not put a single foot wrong...

| Feb 14, 2023

rich in subtlety and nuance, when it could have been overbearing and melodramatic

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Oct 17, 2022

Resting at the #21 spot of my favorite films released in 2020, "Sound of Metal" is set to join the Criterion Collection with a series of brand-new materials that allow for a deeper look at the concept and creation of this emotional work.

| Sep 22, 2022

Riz Ahmed’s performance in Sound of Metal is a rare thing. He has a brooding intensity and vulnerability that rivals Brando and Penn.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 9, 2022

The film’s tough-minded yet thoughtful story plows some heavy ground and asks challenging questions.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 25, 2022

Sound of Metal's explorations of grief, acceptance and of progression are a rewarding experience and as we've all just spent the better part of a year learning to accept and adapt to change foisted upon us, the film's messages are additionally resonant.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 16, 2022

Sound of Metal occasionally gets lost in the visual flourishes, but this is a small gripe when compared to a performance that reveals an actor hitting his stride as an artist.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 2, 2022

Sound of Metal is a stirring character study about finding inner peace.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Feb 17, 2022

Spearheaded by a dynamite lead performance, this story of recovery and, more so, denial, reaches and aching honesty.

| Sep 13, 2021

The final act's quietly played emotional turmoil - in which Cooke really gets to spread her wings - is a triumph, building to an elegant and heart-warming finale.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 29, 2021

As inconsistent and inherently dubious as this aural gambit may be, it achieves a kind of blunt-force effectiveness in tandem with the earnest, wild-eyed performance by Ahmed.

| Jul 13, 2021