Best Actor 2020: Riz Ahmed in Sound of Metal

Riz Ahmed received his first Oscar nomination for portraying Ruben Stone in Sound of Metal. 

Sound of Metal is a terrific character study about a heavy metal drummer who begins to rapidly lose his hearing. 

Riz Ahmed is yet another up and coming actor Oscar nominated this year who has slowly been building up an impressive resume for himself. While much of his film work, since his semi breakout in the dark comedy Four Lions, has been in supporting roles, Sound of Metal gives him the chance to take center stage once again. Ahmed takes on the role of drummer Ruben Stone who we find as he is living, in his own words, the gypsy life with his girlfriend/band-mate Lou (Olivia Cooke), which entails riding in an RV and doing various small time gigs. Ahmed's role in the opening is one really all about the past as we see a seemingly, relatively, normal living. This as much as his character is covered in tattoos, much like the previous Derek Cianfrance/Darius Marder collaboration character played by Ryan Gosling in The Place Beyond the Pines. Although this initially isn't a performance at all about being tortured, though the past is there. Ahmed's work, with Olivia Cooke, actually artfully captures a particular kind of normalcy between Ruben and Lou. They have a nice kind of ease in their chemistry. This as we just see them play together, and spend time together in their constantly moving life. Their conversations though are casual and both actors really capture the nature of a longer relationship here. There in that ease we just see these two have been together for awhile. It goes a bit further though than that in creating the essential history, which isn't quite spoken, where the two likely met at a rehab facility for drug addiction. 

I think in this you have very important moments within their interactions. Such as an early scene where the early riser Ruben prods Lou to get up to basically dance with him. A simple scene yet Ahmed uses it so well. This as his performance on one end reaffirms a clear sense of love between the two, but there is also a bit more. The way Ahmed prods has a certain sense of facilitation. This isn't a negative rather we see in Ahmed's performance a sense of a set routine he has to try to keep Lou on the straight and narrow path. This as they create a rather effective sense of this relationship which I think so artfully borders the line between just a straight up loving relationship and a co-dependent situation. In their interactions we see both, and in this they create the real history of two former addicts who found solace and support in each other, while it was probably lacking in most places. Again this is all almost entirely unsaid, and it is just impressive in the vivid sense of the relationship that both Ahmed and Cooke bring. We get those moments of just normal people in a relationship, but still the sense of a connection of a desperate need in each other to live each moment. Even though the film doesn't at all give us an obvious backstory we have a strong sense of where Ruben is coming from due to Ahmed's nuanced performance. This setting up the man clearly where he is, before he has the rug pulled out from under him as he suddenly begins to lose his hearing.

As Ruben starts losing his hearing Ahmed is great in depicting the progression of this realization. This in starting out in these reactions of just genuine confusion of not knowing what is going on, and just surprise at the situation. His reaction to his diagnosis is terrific in balancing a sense of disbelief but also a kind of denial all the same. As he speaks instantly of the potential alternative of a cochlear implant, Ahmed delivers these words with a fearing immediacy. This as he speaks towards needing just a solution to the problem as soon as possible without a sense of really even accepting that his situation is about to get worse before it improves. This as Ahmed shows just a worsening state of denial and internalizes powerfully that sense of that anxiety. In his eyes you almost get an idea of the barrier of denial in this time as Ruben seemingly tries to not even think about it. This to the point when he suggests alternatives for their performances again Ahmed speaks as a man looking for solutions that would quickly avoid the problem more than anything else. When Lou has Ruben call his sponsor, suggesting a potential relapse, Ahmed is terrific in his conversation. Speaking every word with an emotional defensiveness which signals a very real frustration while also trying so hard to assure that every thing is fine. Ahmed showing naturally a man truly at an edge, wholly earning his raw emotional breakdown as the man just seems at a complete loss for answers. Ahmed presenting the moment as just a mess coming from a bursting at the seams after trying so hard to hold it together and falling apart all at once. 

Eventually they seek help in a shelter designed for addicts who are deaf lead by Joe (Paul Raci). Ahmed's performance in the initial interview is excellent in conveying the state of uncertainty of a man who has been in a very specific relationship and comfort zone with Lou. This as anything against that he speaks as with a anxiety ridden dismissiveness. When Joe particularly suggests the two will need to separate during the period in which he becomes accommodated with the shelter, that defensiveness becomes all the stronger to the point of initially rejecting the shelter. Following that, Ahmed shows Ruben speaking his suicidal words as the state of the man now completely unsettled and lost in the moment as he is unable to cope with his hearing loss that uproots his life. Due to Lou refusing to let him not go to the shelter he finally does. Here we get some great work by Ahmed and I love that he doesn't suddenly become Randle McMurphy, which would be ill-fitting to the nature of this story. Instead Ahmed presents something befitting this man who is struggling on the outside with what had been his place of comfort for so long. Ahmed's eyes bringing a sense of two things. One being still that anxiety of a man at first so ill at ease at suddenly no longer being within his zone, but also the seeds of a sense of discovery. This as he watches everything going at the shelter with a degree of both confusion and the right hint of curiosity. 

In the shelter scenes Ahmed's work is pivotal in creating an arc that fittingly is so often in silence. We see that discontent early on and minor bits of almost an annoyance as though he's almost a kid sent to camp who didn't want to go. In this though Ahmed captures the energy of the character so effectively in creating the state of sort of needing some kind of output, which keeps him from any comfort. This leading Joe to get Ruben to try a practice of sitting a room in the morning of either sitting or writing. Seemingly simple moments comes from this, yet so important, this in Ahmed showing really the difficultly Ruben has in accepting the silence so to speak. This creating a real sense of the frustration of just sitting and as he initially out pours onto the paper in an emotional rage of sorts, but gradually seems to find some sense of solace in the practice. With that though we also have a progression of beautifully performed scenes by Ahmed of Ruben just slowly coming to accept the shelter and better himself through it. He makes this progression feel so honest and natural, by just slowly losing that sense of anxiety and discomfort, this instead replaced by connection within the interactions with everyone around him. Ahmed making such simple moments, as playing with kids or teaching them the drums, genuinely moving by depicting this genuine change in the man to finding an authentic output for himself essentially. This is where we see Ruben coming to accept not only his deafness but himself. This again is rarely spoken outright rather Ahmed, makes you feel every moment of this natural transformation. 

The one thing that seems to hold Ruben back is actually what once propped him up, this is as he sneaks off every so often to try to check on Lou. In these moments we see a return to that anxiety in Ahmed's eyes as he watches whatever she is doing next, and see now the negative side of that co-dependence. This leading Ruben to sell everything he owns to afford his cochlear implants, which are not quite the perfect fix that he was hoping for. Ahmed again is great by so fundamentally creating the right sense of the experience within his own work. This as his reactions show a different discovery, a somewhat unpleasant one as his expression is of the disconcerting realization that he could not simply just return himself to his old self. The following confrontation work is simply one of the best acted scenes of 2020, as the moment isn't really about right and wrong, but rather the difference within their philosophies and personal intention. This as Ruben goes to explain himself Ahmed's sense of passion is real and even his sense of real love towards Joe as he explains himself. He explains himself not from a place of discontent in the same way, rather showing a man who cares deeply, while trying to plead his case. Ahmed is fantastic in conveying the sense of split loyalties within the moment as he tries to explain, and Ahmed finds the emotional desperation in trying to come to an understanding however failing to do so. It is heartbreaking work on both end, because both actors so vividly grant you a sense where each man is coming from. What I see as the epilogue of the film then follows Ruben as he tries to recapture his old life by returning to Lou who is now in France. I think here Ahmed is great actually by the understated nature of his work. This as he shows that even that underlying motivation is almost perfunctory to some degree. When he speaks about returning to their old life, it isn't with a straight passion, but rather almost as a dutiful choice to hold up the past. The moment that is not perfunctory is their recognition of their relationship where both are remarkable in expressing just the genuine love and gratitude to each other. Even in this though Ahmed carefully shows that something has changed, and the two are no longer linked in the way they had been for so long. The love is there, but it is now different. This making his choice to leave alone an earned one. This only followed by really the pitch perfect ending through Ahmed's always outstanding performance that finds the right nuance in this moment. This as it isn't just a physical unpleasantness that he shows as Ruben removes his implants to embrace the silence. Rather Ahmed is able to project finally a contentment within the man in the moment, a man who can now be still and embrace himself for who he is.