The Sounding (2017)
On a remote island off the coast of Maine, Liv, after years of silence, begins to weave a language out of Shakespeare's words. A driven neurologist, brought to the island to protect her, commits her to a psychiatric hospital. She becomes a full-blow rebel in the hospital; her increasing violence threatens to keep her locked up for life as she fights for her voice and her freedom.
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Masterful Movie
Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess
Better Late Then Never
The movie really just wants to entertain people.
THE SOUNDING won the 2017 Arizona International Film Festival Grand Prize for a reason. It is rare for a film to move audiences as much as THE SOUNDING did.Catherine Eaton is the Director, Co-Writer, and Star of THE SOUNDING. This combo can be a problem but this triple play enhanced the film. I can't imagine anyone else in those roles.People were talking about it for days. It has been a while since a film grabbed an audience like that.If THE SOUNDING screens anywhere near you, SEE IT!!!
This film is one of the finest examples of a new filmmakers finding their voice and fully exploring the medium of film. With a screenplay by Catherine Eaton and Bryan Delaney, a creative and engaging plot and extraordinary performances from Ms. Eaton and the well- chosen ensemble cast including a fine supporting performance from Harris Yulin, this film leads one down unexpected paths and challenges your thinking about relationships, standards of normalcy and language. What is most intriguing about the film is it's wonderful use of cinematic language in the evocative landscape in which the story evolves and the wonderful faces of the ensemble. Well chosen aspects and enticing shots lead the audience into this unusual world of artists, not depending on dialogue alone but allowing the film to speak for itself. It creates a fascinating amalgam of incidents, relationships and solitude which linger in the memory long after the film is over. A really excellent first outing for this creative team!
Look, very rarely do filmmakers and storytellers take huge risks in an attempt to take an audience into new territory...The Sounding is as much about that risk as it is about an intriguing, complex woman who plumbs the recesses of grief and genius. There are few perfect films, but what really matters is years from now will you still be thinking about it? This is one of those works who will resonate long after the lights have gone up in the theater and the remote control click has turned the screen off at home. A true achievement!
The Sounding starts off strong with a very interesting concept that draws you into the film and gets you wondering what's going on. The movie has some wonderful touching moments in the first half while also serving to build up more intrigue. We also see some spectacularly beautiful shots of Monhegan Island in Maine. However, as the story progresses it falters. The second half of the movie seems built to get the two main characters in a room together for the movie's climatic revelation. To do this the movie sacrifices much of its believability (as believable as a woman who only speaks in snippets of Shakespeare can be). Which would perhaps be OK if that revelation was at all deserving of the buildup it had been given. The Sounding does a pretty good job of building up the audience's desire to know WHY, but its payoff leaves the audience unsatisfied and the ending seems like an afterthought meant only to create a "happy" resolution.I respect the movie for what it attempted and it certainly has some good parts, but it ultimately falls short of the very high bar it sets for itself.