June 14 - KONK Network

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I N R E V I E W W I T H
Ian Brockway
Sound of My Voice
Sound of My Voice"
plunges us deep in an
obsessional space and there are no
easy answers. Many will be tempted
to call this film a thriller, a spook
show, or a "Twilight Zone" Saturday
chiller. While it has these aspects in
it, it is really none of these things.
is film slips and slides and seems
to toy with the audience, intentionally
moving to satisfy our desire for
convention, only to pull away. In
mood, "Sound of My Voice" resembles
the claustrophobia and peer
pressure of Roman Polanski, but
even this illustration doesn't do it
justice. ere is more than a bit of
melancholic dark humor within this
film, the mark of Mike Cahill's "Another
Earth" is clearly seen as well as
Baumbach's "Greenberg" and Jay
Duplass' "Jeff Who Lives at Home".
Rather than a post Millenial
Woody Allen character study, however,
we are now in the life of a cult.
Peter (Christopher Denham) is an elementary
school teacher who has an
ambition to make a documentary
film about cults. Somehow Peter and
his girlfriend Lorna (Nicole Vicius)
get an Internet tip that one Maggie
is a delusional zealot from the future
who is amassing followers.
We are plunged in the action immediately.
We see blindfolds, white
spaces and bottles of chemicals. Are
these two going to be killed instantly?
We do not know. ey are
taken to a blinding corridor and told
to make no sudden moves. en we
see a pair of bare feet ominously
rolling an oxygen tank across the
smooth floor. Who is this person? Is
he / she sick or hideously deformed.
e being is wrapped in white. e
tank reminds us of one terminally Ill
and we may well fear the worst. e
sheet is pulled back to reveal the innocent,
peaceful and cream-complexioned
face of Maggie (Brit Marling)
www.konklife.com 17
a young ingenue presumably from
the year 2050.
Right away we sense that life in
this small room is not all that much
fun and even scary. e other members
frequently look puffy and moist
as if they have just finished their periodic
crying bout. We see strange
and needlessly long handshakes that
would seem like something out of
e ree Stooges were it not for the
odd sinister silences that punctuate
each gesture. For the most part we
are left in the dark as too the cult's
importance or meaning. What it
stands for is anybody's guess.
Most provocative is Britt Marling
here in her portrayal of Maggie who
is equally compassionate, gentle and
brutal as she tells people to vomit on
command. is scene is probably the
most difficult to watch, but those
who hold out will be entertained by
sleight of hand if not revelation.
is is not a shock film or a seat
jumper but rather a curious dream
that is well worth watching. More
than once for some reason, I was reminded
of clinics and hospitals. Just
when you see the character of Maggie
one way, she shifts and turns,
even twisting her back as if repelled
by us, her third audience.
rough my research, as the director
Zal Batmangilij, Mike Cahill
and Brit Marling have all worked together
on projects, these three can be
seen as single minded pioneers,
breaking new ground just as Sam
Pekinpah, Roman Polanski and
William Friedkin seared the limits of
cellulose before them.
Taken as a group of three, Zal
Batmangilij, Mike Cahill and Brit
Marling are this decade's Paradox
Pack. ey confound as much as
they entertain and have the ability to
turn the sonatas of our lives into
knots. Yet delight they do by giving
us occasional visual snaps relating to
each character and condition. ese
moments like the light of the Unexpected,
fall upon us as poetry, rich in
riddles with angles all oblique.
Continued on page 20
Pruning the Pomp
Keys Energy Services Tree Trimmer David Cottar Jr. trims Poinciana
flowers from a tree in Bayview Park to be used to line the field of
Tommy Roberts Memorial Stadium for Key West High School graduation
ceremony. Given recent budget cuts, Monroe County School
District no longer has staffing required to perform this task. KEYS
provides this in-kind service assistance to continue the tradition of
having graduates enter the field via a Poinciana flower-lined path.