Written by Darius Marder and Abraham Marder
Directed By Darius Marder
Starring Riz Ahmed, Olivia Cooke, Paul Raci and Mathieu Amalric
Running Time: 2 hours and 10 Minutes
MPAA Rating: R for language throughout and brief nude images

by Ian Hrabe

The phrase “Starring Riz Ahmed” should be movie code for “just watch this damn movie it’s gonna be great.” Ahmed has basically been must see kino since his breakout performance in the 2010 British terrorist comedy Four Lions, and he broke out stateside as Jake Gyllenhaal’s lackey in 2014’s Nightcrawler. Since then, he has starred in the HBO miniseries The Night Of, done turns in blockbusters like Star Wars: Rogue One and Venom, and with Sound of Metal Ahmed delivers a truly virtuosic lead performance that argues the case why he should be a megastar. Sure, there are other actors in Sound of Metal, but this is the Riz Ahmed show and it’s why I can’t recommend this enough.