Sound of My Voice – Review

A journalist and his girlfriend get pulled in while they investigate a cult whose leader claims to be from the future.

I discovered Sound of My Voice while I was flicking through the new releases available to rent on iTunes. The write-up was intriguing and the trailer even more so; its unusual and unique and its executed in such a way that although it progresses quite slowly, its very dark and it leaves you feeling tense all the way through.

Theres a really strong sense of tension and not knowing, which I really liked. Although ultimately nothing happens, and you don’t ever find out the truth about Maggie, who claims to be from 2054, its tense to the point of almost feeling like a horror film.

The representation of women is quite interesting. Maggie has gathered a cult of people who fear and worship her. She has the power to terrify them with just a look. Its interesting to see a strong female protagonist in a film such as this, she completely takes charge of the narrative and the other characters involved. Brit Marling does a fantastic job of portraying her as mysterious, scary and charismatic. She’s terrifying but beautiful and the performance as well as the clever dialogue and use of direction with regards to the character of Maggie together make her very poignant.

Interestingly, when researching Brit Marling herself I found that she too is a refreshingly strong and powerful woman in the film industry. She co-wrote this indie film, and has chosen to write her own screen plays, fed up with offers to predominantly play sexy victims in horror films. This says a lot about the representation of women in Sound of My Voice, but also about the film industry in general.

While this is not by any means perfect, its a very interesting and captivating indie film. I was slightly disappointed by the ending, in which nothing is fully explained and Maggie’s identity remains ambiguous. I think the whole film could be cut down into a powerful sequence of a much larger narrative, in which Maggie’s character is explored more intricately. However, I did enjoy Sound of My Voice and its left quite an impression. It just proves that its worth looking for lesser known, indie films once in a while.