SXSW Film

Sound of My Voice

Festival Favorites
D: Zal Batmanglij; with Brit Marling, Christopher Denham, Nicole Vicius

Sound of My Voice is an impressive debut feature, which is directed by Batmanglij and co-written with his star and co-producer Marling. The film creates a palpable vibe of uneasiness and uncertainty and does so with an admirable economy of means – using drama and a paucity of reliable information to tell its story. Peter (Denham) and Lorna (Vicius) are a couple of documentary filmmakers (as well as a romantic couple) who are making a covert film about a cult that meets in a suburban basement in the San Fernando Valley. Its leader is the charismatic yet ethereal Maggie (Marling), who claims to be from the year 2054 and cannot leave the basement because of her allergies to the contemporary world. Marling's performance is wholly believable, as is most of the film, although the sketchy details of the Justice Department's involvement and the film's rapid denouement probably reveal the film's original intent as a Web series.

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Saturday, March 19, 9:30pm, Alamo Ritz 1