Movies Like
Movies Like Sound of Metal: Films That Put You Inside the Change
By Jordan A. · · Updated · 5 min read
Sound of Metal (2019, Darius Marder, 120 minutes) does something almost no other film does: it puts you inside the change rather than watching it from across the room. When Ruben's hearing goes, the mix goes with it, and you spend the rest of the film with the same missing information he has.
That is a craft choice, not a genre, so the films below are picked for the same thing: a body or a sense doing something the character did not agree to, told from close range. Years, directors and runtimes are listed for all of them. Where each streams changes, so the title page on BingeNext shows current US options rather than a guess.
If you want the sensory experiment
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007, Julian Schnabel, 112 minutes) is the closest relative. Jean-Dominique Bauby has a stroke and can move one eyelid, and Schnabel shoots long stretches from inside that eye, blurred and blinking. It shares the decision to make the audience share the limitation. The difference is that it is warmer and stranger, full of daydreams. Choose it if the first twenty minutes of Sound of Metal were the part you keep thinking about.
The Conversation (1974, Francis Ford Coppola, 113 minutes) is the great film about listening. A surveillance expert replays one recording until he has heard something that may not be there. It shares the obsessive attention to what sound is and is not telling you. The difference is that the dread is paranoid rather than personal. Choose it if you want the audio craft foregrounded.
Berberian Sound Studio (2012, Peter Strickland, 94 minutes) follows a mild English sound engineer hired to do foley for an Italian horror film, and it slowly comes apart. It shares the fascination with how sound gets built. The difference is that it is a psychological horror film and it will not resolve for you. Choose it if you want the weirdest entry here.
The Artist (2011, Michel Hazanavicius, 100 minutes) is a silent film about the arrival of sound, and it uses the absence of dialogue as its main instrument. It shares the theme of a performer whose medium turns on them. The difference is that it is a charming crowd-pleaser with a dog in it. Choose it if you want the idea without the grief.
If you want the body changing
The Sea Inside (2004, Alejandro Amenabar, 125 minutes) stars Javier Bardem as Ramon Sampedro, a Spanish man who spent decades paralysed and campaigning for the right to end his life. It shares the refusal to treat disability as a lesson for the audience. The difference is that it is about a decision rather than an adjustment. Choose it if you want the hardest film on this list.
Rust and Bone (2012, Jacques Audiard, 123 minutes) has Marion Cotillard as an orca trainer who loses her legs, and Matthias Schoenaerts as the blunt, unhelpful man she ends up with. It shares the unsentimental handling of a life reorganizing itself. The difference is that it is a romance, and a fairly bruising one. Choose it if you liked that Sound of Metal never asked you to feel sorry for anyone.
Whiplash (2014, Damien Chazelle, 106 minutes) is the drumming film to pair with the drumming film. Same instrument, opposite problem: not losing the ability but being destroyed by the pursuit of it. It shares the physical brutality of playing. The difference is that it is a thriller, tightly cut and mean. Choose it if the band scenes were what hooked you.
If you want the quiet aftermath
Manchester by the Sea (2016, Kenneth Lonergan, 137 minutes) is about a man who cannot be repaired and a film honest enough not to repair him. It shares the ending Sound of Metal has, where the resolution is acceptance rather than recovery. The difference is that the loss is behind the character rather than happening to him. Choose it if that last shot on the bench is the reason you are reading this.
Drive My Car (2021, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, 179 minutes) is three hours long and almost nothing happens loudly. A theater director rehearses a multilingual production of Uncle Vanya while not talking about his wife. It shares the interest in communication that has to route around a missing channel, including long stretches in sign language. The difference is the length and the patience it asks for. Choose it if you have an evening and want the deepest version of this.
CODA (2021, Sian Heder, 111 minutes) is the warm counterweight. A hearing daughter in a Deaf family has to choose between being their interpreter and leaving. It shares the Deaf community setting and, crucially, casts Deaf actors. The difference is tone, since this one is a feel-good film and it means it. Choose it if you want the same world with the ache turned down.
Where to start
If you want the closest match to the experience, start with The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. If you want the same subject handled gently, start with CODA. If you want the sound design itself to be the event, The Conversation. And if you have three hours and want the film that will stay longest, it is Drive My Car.
If you want something tuned to a mood rather than a theme, tell BingeNext mood recommendations how you want to feel and it will build a shortlist with a reason for each pick and where it streams. It takes about a minute.
Topics covered: drama, intimate, sensory, character-driven, indie, contemporary
About the author
Jordan A., Founder, BingeNext
Jordan A. is the founder of BingeNext and is responsible for every guide published on this site. He built the recommendation engine after one too many nights lost to the streaming menu. Dates, season counts and where-to-watch details in these guides are checked against official sources before publishing, and corrections are welcome at Jordan@Bingenext.com.