Sound of My Voice 2011

Mary F. Pols, TIME Magazine: The movie explores the basic debate over faith, the idea that we can feel a sense of relief in cynicism realized and turn around and face the horror of our lack of faith in the next moment. Read more

James Rocchi, MSN Movies: Stuffed full of ideas and twists and turns, it also plays a little thin and fragile, more like a haiku than a novel. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: A smart, effectively unsettling movie about the need to believe and the hard, cruel arts of persuasion. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Batmanglij keeps the movie even-keeled, full of medium close-ups, underscored by ambient plinks and shimmers, with nothing to break the trance until a last scene that upends everything we thought we knew. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: The film is thin and mannered, even though many of the mannerisms are intrinsic to its shrewd vision of cult behavior. There's no arguing, though-and who would want to?-Ms. Marling's extraordinary gift for taking the camera and weaving a spell. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: [The] idea is intriguing enough. But this clever, low-budget film kicks the concept up a few notches to mesmerizing. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: You just want something energetic to happen, and it doesn't until the film's effective final scene. Read more

Alison Willmore, AV Club: Marling provides a grave, otherworldly center around which everything else orbits... Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: The intelligence in it is both soothing and intimidating. Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: This plays like an early George Romero shocker but without Romero's humor or social commentary. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Behold the trials and tribulations of going undercover. It doesn't matter if it's cop or journalist, a muddying of purpose takes hold once a mole plunges deeper into the darkness. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: There's nothing wrong with asking viewers to fill in some holes. But "Sound of My Voice" leaves you dangling, reaching out for something that's just not there. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: A small-scale, shot-on-DV movie that, in its stripped-down low-budget way, gets deeper into the fascination - the mental horror - of cults than Martha Marcy May Marlene did. Read more

Amanda Mae Meyncke, Film.com: There's an unshakeable sense of uneasiness as one never knows precisely what might occur, and the truth is almost impossible to discern. Read more

Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter: A couple infiltrates a secretive cult in this tense, very low-budget thriller with science fiction overtones. Read more

Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times: An appealing hybrid of genre smarts and a questioning sensibility. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: There is a huge difference between an unexpectedly sudden ending (like The Sopranos) and a non-ending. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: That the movie is part of a possible trilogy doesn't make up for the thin, underdeveloped feel. But Marling, who weaves a strong spell, will probably keep appearing in our future. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: None of this really adds up to much beyond an hour-and-a-half or so of vague doubletalk, arbitrary decisions and increasingly annoying frustration. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: The creepy pull of cults is only one aspect of this mesmerizing drama. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: "Sound of My Voice'' holds your attention for a while, but fails to build much suspense as it races toward a predictable climax. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Sound of My Voice serves up moments of extreme dread and discomfort, but works a winning undercurrent of playful absurdity into the material as well. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: [Marling] is a talent with an understated presence. It conveys in this film an insidious conviction: What is her motive, really? Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Proves how effectively you can set the mind-bending mood without any special effects, action sequences or spectral rabbits. Read more

Amy Biancolli, San Francisco Chronicle: Fascinates and titillates, but never quite persuades. Read more

Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "Sound of My Voice" at once dramatizes and questions the power of belief. Read more

Stephen Cole, Globe and Mail: A sharp little cult thriller with a do-it-yourself ending. Read more

Cath Clarke, Time Out: As a thriller, 'Sound of My Voice' tails off and its budget shows. But for Marling it's an impressive calling card. Read more

David Fear, Time Out: For those who aren't burdened by such things, the loopy, off-kilter pace and frontal-lobe frying provide their own unconventional pleasures. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Sound of My Voice grounds its science fiction in scarily effective "what ifs" that don't require a light year's stretch of the imagination. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: "Sound of My Voice" may seem like an extended episode of "The Twilight Zone," but within its clever structure it digs into the notions of identity, loyalty and the need to belong. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: An object lesson in how much can be achieved on modest means with a smart combo of craft and story. Read more

Karina Longworth, Village Voice: The bland, jittery visual "realism" can't counteract overheated performances of tin-eared dialogue, which strain for pulp but often land at soap. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: Marling seems less in danger of creating the same part over and over again than the same movie. Read more