Movie: Sound of Metal — A Drummer's Life Is Turned Upside Down After He Starts Losing Hearing

[another sean]

There is a new music drama film coming out called Sound of Metal about a drummer whose life is turned upside down after discovering that he's losing his hearing. I bet tinnitus will be a part of it.

It stars Riz Ahmed (Rogue One, Nightcrawler).

 

[Jack Straw]

Wanted to bump this since this movie came out!

 

[HeavyMantra]

Seems like a good movie. Tinnitus does not seem to be featured though, lucky character I guess...

 

[weab00]

I will have to add this to my list of stuff to watch some time in the indefinite future when I no longer have hyperacusis.

 

[HeavyMantra]

I will have to add this to my list of stuff to watch some time in the indefinite future when I no longer have hyperacusis.

Pretty quiet movie so far except for the music in the beginning. Dude becomes almost deaf very early on and the audio is low and muffled (except for a tinnitus tone for a minute early on). I can't handle this shit right now because of my own worsening, tough watch...

 

[Cernuto]

The part where he's tasked with writing and sitting peacefully, in an effort to be comfortable with his silence, was tough to watch, though ultimately helpful to me.

 

[Alexandras]

Long story short, I enjoyed the movie Sound of Metal, however... there was almost nothing related to the tinnitus.

Maybe only the feeling he got when the cochlear implants were turned on. The constant disturbed noise.

I wish someone would create a movie about a tinnitus hero, and obviously during such movie the tinnitus sounds should be played all the time. It would be interesting to see how many people would not be able to finish watching it and leave the cinema. That would raise the awareness of general public.

 

[Danny B]

This movie was actually extremely cathartic and helpful to me, even though it addresses deafness and not tinnitus. There are going to be spoilers about the general direction of the plot in this comment, although I won't spoil specifics.

Riz Ahmed's performance of someone who is trying to keep up the facade of self control in public while freaking out and crying in private reminded me a lot of my onset period with tinnitus. The first hour or so was practically a horror film with how well it captured that feeling of helplessness that comes with your reality and perception of the world changing so suddenly. It captured that feeling of isolation perfectly.

The catharsis of seeing this character learning coping mechanisms and slowly coming to accept his new reality was an awesome emotional payoff. I even tried the "sit in a room and do nothing, with just a journal in front of you" tactic and it helped me a lot to de-stigmatize my lingering fears of totally silent rooms. Some of it may be fantastical and emotionally glib, but it was a pretty good pick-me-up to emotionally identify with a character and watch them go through the process of accepting their new reality.

I would only recommend watching it if you are comfortable enough with your tinnitus to be exposed to some seriously traumatic scenes of a character reacting to sudden hearing loss. That first act was so stressful I considered turning it off, but I'm glad I didn't. Quite possibly my favorite movie of 2020 (not that the selection was super bountiful compared to the awesome 2019).

 

[Cernuto]

This movie was actually extremely cathartic and helpful to me, even though it addresses deafness and not tinnitus. There are going to be spoilers about the general direction of the plot in this comment, although I won't spoil specifics.

Riz Ahmed's performance of someone who is trying to keep up the facade of self control in public while freaking out and crying in private reminded me a lot of my onset period with tinnitus. The first hour or so was practically a horror film with how well it captured that feeling of helplessness that comes with your reality and perception of the world changing so suddenly. It captured that feeling of isolation perfectly.

The catharsis of seeing this character learning coping mechanisms and slowly coming to accept his new reality was an awesome emotional payoff. I even tried the "sit in a room and do nothing, with just a journal in front of you" tactic and it helped me a lot to de-stigmatize my lingering fears of totally silent rooms. Some of it may be fantastical and emotionally glib, but it was a pretty good pick-me-up to emotionally identify with a character and watch them go through the process of accepting their new reality.

I would only recommend watching it if you are comfortable enough with your tinnitus to be exposed to some seriously traumatic scenes of a character reacting to sudden hearing loss. That first act was so stressful I considered turning it off, but I'm glad I didn't. Quite possibly my favorite movie of 2020 (not that the selection was super bountiful compared to the awesome 2019).

I wonder how many of us have had the same initial experience where we wander into a pharmacy and ask if they have anything to treat our ears? I still regularly work on 'sit in a room and do nothing'. I think it really helps me deal with this affliction.

 

[Lurius]

Long story short, I enjoyed the movie Sound of Metal, however... there was almost nothing related to the tinnitus.

Maybe only the feeling he got when the cochlear implants were turned on. The constant disturbed noise.

I wish someone would create a movie about a tinnitus hero, and obviously during such movie the tinnitus sounds should be played all the time. It would be interesting to see how many people would not be able to finish watching it and leave the cinema. That would raise the awareness of general public.

I've had the exact same idea in my mind for 2 years. And I think the hero should kill himself in the end.

 

[Sammy in RI]

I thought this movie was excellent. I think about the ending often. I will warn you, the beginning has a few minutes of incredibly penetrating screechy audio. Turn it way down or wear earplugs. Sometimes I think my worsened tinnitus, which happened around that time, could have some from that! Ironic, if so.