Year: 2011
Director: Zal Batmanglij
Country: US
Language: English
I first saw Sound of My Voice during the Summer of 2012. Though I intended to write a review about it, I somehow forgot and it got lost among the many other great films that I had watched. My friend Bry Zee recently suggested that I should review this film and so I will. The film is from 2011, a great year for recent independent films. While my favourite of that year was the chilling Martha Marcy May Marlene, this film is definitely in my top ten.
The intriguing plot consists of a journalist (Christopher Denham) and his girlfriend (Lorna Michaelson), who get pulled into a cult, whose leader claims to be from the future, while they are investigating it.
Sound of My Voice is Iranian-American screenwriter and director Zal Batmanglij's first feature film, which he co-wrote with American screenwriter Brit Marling. It premiered at the 27th Sundance Film Festival in 2011 and was shot primarily in the United States. Overall the film is impressive, it is very atmospheric and holds a good pace. If you want to know what it feels like to join a cult without actually joining a cult then this film is the closest you will get. It's absolutely haunting, an experience you will not forget.
The film is haunting because it's an intensely psychological character study. We are seduced by Maggie the cult leader, yet we also fear her. Every character in this film is profoundly human, even the "protagonists" of this story have skeletons in their closet. The key to this film's success is not only the uncertainty of Maggie's identity, but also the mystery of it all. Sound of my Voice is an intense emotional roller-coaster that does not stop, even when the film ends.
In conclusion, Sound of My Voice is a film that demands multiple viewings because it's just that damn good. One could argue that it's the best film of the decade so far and it would be pretty difficult to disagree.The film does leave some questions unanswered and does have an ambiguous ending, which may upset some people, but overall it's an incredibly suspenseful, thought provoking film. Praise it! 5/5
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