Sound of My Voice: Interesting experience

(Although I tried to refrain from spoilers, there might be some minor ones)

I had never heard about Sound of My Voice until yesterday when I walked to the rental booth. Released in 2012 at Sundance, the film follows Peter (Christopher Denham) and Lorna (Nicole Vicius), a young couple trying to infiltrate a small cult as part of a personal investigative journalism endeavor. The cult is led by a charismatic and mysterious woman called Maggie (Brit Marling), who claims to be a time-traveler from 2054. As their visits to the cult continue, they start to question their intentions, truth, and each other. Is Maggie a charlatan or is she for real? are they in it for the journalism project or are they really involved?

The film is the debut feature film of Zal Batmanglij, and was co-written and co-produced by Brit Marling. Marling had previously worked on a similarly interesting indie film, Another Earth. Here she also plays the role of Maggie, the leader of the cult in a very subtle and ambiguous way. Even in moments where she seems to be psychologically harassing some of the characters, she doesn't lose her cool. Denham and Vicius are equally good as the lead couple. You actually wonder how involved are they in this as they continue to play along. Special kudos to Denham, who I thought really nailed his key emotional moments.

The film moves at a slow pace, with a lot of quiet, introspective moments. In a way, this can make the film feel a bit flat, since there really aren't too much peaks in it. And although that doesn't necessarily make it a bad film, it doesn't make it a memorable one either. Lots of questions are left unanswered, which I'm cool with. But most of the questions simply revolve around the "is she/isn't she" dilemma. Not much else to nibble at.

Overall, an interesting film with a solid cast. It's not a great film, but probably worth a watch. Grade: B+