Sound of My Voice

Captivating and enigmatic, "Sound of My Voice" shows that you can effectively rack an audience's mind with a micro-budget. While many of the strange details and set-ups are left open ended, it's the kind of film that will you have talking with others trying to fill in the blanks long after you've seen it. In some ways, they plant more details than necessary in what seems to be an attempt to confuse the audience and test their attention.Overall, the actors in the film do a great job (especially Marling) and it proves to be a promising directorial debut for Zal Batmanglij. If you want something that also pulls at the mind emotionally, I would recommend "Another Earth".

I could spend 3hrs writing a review on how many holes there are in this movie. The acting is sub-par and the plot is beyond terrible. Do yourself a favour and shove a fork in your eyes before "viewing" this movie it may actually improve it. The bland, jittery visual "realism" can't counteract overheated performances of tin-eared dialogue, which strain for pulp but often land at soap.Holds your attention for a while, but fails to build much suspense as it races toward a predictable climax. It probably would have worked better as a series of Webisodes, which reportedly was the original plan.In the end, the film doesn't add up to much of anything, but its individual parts are sometimes greater than its whole.

I read the synopsis for this movie and thought it sounded very interesting. My conclusion: Just read the plot line like a miniature novel and you can appreciate the story much more. I didn't much care for the movie in comparison. I felt it could've been done much better.

I agree with the other reviewer calling the ending a cop-out. There was just so much missing with the movie. It also would've been much better with character actors that had more charisma, particularly with Maggie who is supposed to be incredibly charismatic but just comes off incredibly weird (I'm sure it's sort of the point, but couldn't she have been at least a little charming since it calls it?).

If you are into films that are original and make you think as you leave the theater, this is the film to see while it is still in theaters. Christopher Denham and Nicole Vicius portray a couple attempting to infiltrate and expose a cult led by Brit Marling's Maggie but find themselves in too deep.

The film, presented with little back story and minor music cues leaves only the actors and scenes to bring the emotion and interest. All the actors do a good job with the material and if you go with the scenario being presented it's quite engrossing. The end result is a film that forces the viewer to do some of the heavy lifting to determine if Maggie is who she says she is or if it is all a scam.

I saw Sound of My Voice at its SXSW following its premiere at Sundance. It is a weird little film about a two documentary filmmakers investigating Maggie - a cult leader who claims to have traveled back from the future. It was made on a shoestring budget which can be seen in some of its sound and editing. While the film is a decent first effort by some talented amateur filmmakers, it feels oddly unfinished. The acting is okay, but nothing spectacular. The script is a classic presentation of the one of the oldest of cinematic and literary conflicts between faith and reason. Do you believe that Maggie is a time traveler or is she a fraud? The journey is perhaps more interesting than where it ultimately ends up. The trip to that end is worthwhile and really quite creepy and disturbing at times. Maggie is a perplexing enigma and the cult's beliefs and rituals are quite mind-boggling.

The cult members seem quite willing to believe anything in the existential quest to give their lives some meaning. They seem to want to be led somewhere and Maggie is very willing to take them. In that sense one can ask what the real difference is between a cult and an established religion. Many scholars would say not that much other than how long they've been around. The final twist is ultimately not all that shocking or truly expected. Still, a good first effort that may allow the filmmakers to move on to bigger and better stuff.