SOUND OF MY VOICE (Zal Batmanglij). For venues and times, see Movies. Rating: NNNN
If you could meet someone from the near future, what would you want to know? And would you be willing to take that person at her word?
That’s the premise of Zal Batmanglij’s Sound Of My Voice, a slippery meditation on faith disguised as science fiction about two hipster journalists (Christopher Denham, Nicole Vicius) determined to expose the mysterious Maggie (Brit Marling, who co-wrote the script with Batmanglij), who claims to have returned from the year 2054 to ready a select few for the coming apocalypse.
But debunking Maggie grows more difficult the more time they spend in her presence: is she a master manipulator or a genuine prophet? (In a remarkable performance, Marling manages to suggest both possibilities.)
Like last year’s Another Earth, which also featured Marling as star and co-writer, Sound Of My Voice is not a movie for people who like things spelled out. It’s an elusive shell game every time we think we’ve glimpsed the truth, it pivots away from us. And once you adjust to that ambiguity, things become a lot more interesting.
