“Sound
Of My Voice” is about a couple of investigative journalists, Peter and Lorna,
who decide to make a documentary about cults and they decide to infiltrate and
expose one of these cults who is being led by a young woman, Maggie, who claims
to be from the future – 2054 to be exact.
Going in they know that the woman and her beliefs are fraudulent but the
further they go and the deeper they get, the more they find themselves getting
caught up in the cult’s beliefs until it starts to become very dangerous for
the couple. Finally, when Maggie asks
Peter to do something so outrageous and illegal, it is time to decide what they
truly believe in and whether or not Maggie is the real deal. It is the age old conflict of faith versus
reason.
I loved
this film for many reasons. It is
obviously a small film made on a low budget (in fact it was originally made to
premiere as an internet serial if they could not release it as a film, thus the
episodic nature of the film), but it has been executed brilliantly and it is so
full of intelligent ideas. Scenes are
played out until their conclusion and yet we may never by privy to the
importance of their nature until later in the film. Perfect examples are the introduction of two
characters, a little girl near the start of the film and a black woman near the
end, we are intrigued by their story but have no idea how they fit into the plot
as a whole until much later. Due to the
nature of the story and because we are never exactly sure what to believe, it
focuses our mind (well, it did mine) and we become mesmerized by the story, in
a similar way Peter and Lorna themselves become mesmerized by the cult.
“Sound
Of My Voice” has been brilliantly written by director Zal Batmanglij and star
Brit Marling. It is so layered and full
of depth as our journalists who initially only saw façade begin to look inside
themselves and start to find the truth.
Marling is the really ace of the film here, not only is she a co-writer
but she plays the head of the cult, Maggie.
She is simply luminous, the camera loves her and she has this presence
that is hard to explain. It is easy to
see how these people are drawn to this woman and believe in everything she
says. She puts you at ease immediately,
but underneath her beauty you feel that there is incredible darkness. Marling co-wrote and starred in last year’s “Another
Earth” and while I actually prefer “Sound Of My Voice” to that film, there is
no doubt that this talented girl is carving herself a unique career in film.
Director
Zal Batmanglij does a fantastic job of telling this story economically and is
smart to never over explain things. He
gives us bits and pieces of information and draws us in, until we find
ourselves, like our journalists, entranced by the fact that maybe Maggie is in
fact from the future. As I mentioned
before the film is episodic in nature, but for some reason this just adds to
the experience.
I
mentioned how outstanding Brit Marling is in the acting stakes, but my only
negative of “Sound Of My Voice” is the performance from Nicole Vicius as
Lorna. It is not that she is bad, she is
just not as strong as she should have been and she does not command your
attention. If she is on screen with
another actor your eyes automatically leave her.
Overall
I really liked this film. I love the
open ended nature which forced my brain to work and I especially liked the
finale because of the fact that it refused to answer certain questions and left
it up to the audience to make up their own minds. This was a smart move because it encourages
discussion which makes the film linger on in the minds long after it is
finished. It is obvious that both Zal
Batmanglij and Brit Marling are going to have a great future in cinema and I
look forward to their new film together, “The East”, which is already
completed.
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