Sound of My Voice

[RegularKarate]

Peter and Lorna endure a rigorous preparation in order to infiltrate a highly secretive cult and confront its mysterious leader, Maggie (Brit Marling), who claims to be a visitor from the future on a crucial mission.

Has anyone else seen this?  (I think Matt mentioned seeing it).  I liked it a good deal.  I actually prefer it over the other cult movie of the year, but that's probably because of the Sci-Fi element.

I'd like to have a spoilery discussion once enough have seen it if possible.

[modage]

I saw it. I liked it.

Stop me if you've heard this one before: a hit at last year's Sundance Film Festival, this film about a creepy cult featured a breakout female performance and was swiftly picked up by Fox Searchlight. If you said "Martha Marcy May Marlene" you're half right, which is likely why the studio decided to hold onto their similarly themed acquisition, "Sound Of My Voice" until this year. Not only was it one of two films about cults to play the fest last year but it was also one of two films starring and co-written by Brit Marling (along with "Another Earth"), but rest assured that they delay doesn't have any bearing on the film's quality. Peter (Christopher Denham) and Lorna (Nicole Vicius) are a couple are in their twenties - he's a substitute teacher, her job is unclear - who have begun to infiltrate a cult for a proposed documentary. The pair agreed they want to do something with their lives before they get too old to be motivated and Peter has decided this documentary is it.

The film opens with the pair willingly submitting themselves to a shower, change of clothes and blindfold to be transported to the basement of a nondescript suburban house. Upon entrance Peter greets a cult member with a complicated handshake that makes it unclear just how long they've been going there. Soon we meet Maggie (Brit Marling), the cult's charismatic leader: a beautiful blonde woman who claims that she is from the future. Maggie apparently suffers from some kind of sickness that has her hooked up to an oxygen tank and prevents her from leaving the basement so her food is grown in the garage. She puts her subjects through rigorous trials of faith, though later says she doesn't care if they believe or not. Peter is initially skeptical (as anyone in their right mind would be) but the line starts to blur between just how committed he's making himself to the cult.

Peter and Lorna keep reiterating how dangerous this cult might be so while the film isn't explicitly violent, it's filled with tension. The acting is pretty solid across the board and it's easy to see why Marling was a breakout star here. She's not what you would expect from a cult leader but she is fascinating and that keeps you guessing. Directed and co-written by Zal Batmanglij, it's an impressive debut especially considering its limited scope. Never boring, the film still suffers from a "but what does it all mean" ambiguity. The filmmaker does a good job for stringing you along for 90 minutes but when it's over you're not sure if you've really gotten much closer to understanding the appeal of the cult or exactly where Maggie comes from. There is a crucial difference in obscuring the truth strategically and doing so because you're not sure how else to tell the story. But ambiguities notwithstanding, the film is a small scale success.

[RegularKarate]

There is a crucial difference in obscuring the truth strategically and doing so because you're not sure how else to tell the story.

Do you have a feeling on whether the movie was doing it strategically?  I do.

I found enough clues throughout the movie that, while I don't quite know what they mean yet, I'm excited about watching it again so I can try to figure it out.

[Neil]

After viewing this I immediately thought of something Polka sadid when he called "Primer" a little miracle of a movie.  I sort of feel the same about this film.  Small budget.  Very well contained as mod had mentioned with regards to scope of the film.  IMO a story like this could be tough to strip down to such a bare bones narrative, but this works well.  I'd like to know where most of the  budget went and how much it was etc.

Like someone mentioned, I also enjoyed the blurred lines between realism and sci-fi, because they don't pander to either genre in the film and it really works out.   'Pander' may not be the right word there, but they really don't lead on in either direction which makes some of the events even more head scratching.

RK, I hope you're right because, there seems to be a lot of ambiguous clues that might make this better and better with each viewing.

I'm Still uncertain why there are those two female expository V/O's about the main characters and I also don't get why it's broken up into 8 little sections but over all it worked for me. 

The end twist was well done and almost anti-climactic, which I enjoyed.


Over all, Great independent effort, if that is in fact what it is.  I look forward to discussing possible theories as we all get through multiple viewings.  The only reason I saw this was because I heard about it on here.  Thanks guys!

[bigperm]

I echo all posted prior to me, refreshing to see something worthy of a watch, I too enjoyed this film and look forward to the spoilery discussion.

[bigperm]

Just saw this, looks to be a bit of viral marketing - spoiler free.

Then this, a touch spoilery but nothing earth shattering, I say that as I feel the less you know about the film the better.