Sound of My Voice (2011)

This trippy story of a journalist and his girlfriend who set out to expose a cult leader is REALLY good, especially considering it's a low-budget independent feature with muddy pictures and worse sound (ironic!). The plot is compelling, the acting great, the music outstanding, the editing crisp, and the ending just right. Brit Marling (Another Earth) stars as the cult leader Maggie, who leans in and whispers, pulling her followers towards her and driving me crazy because I had a great deal of difficulty making out her words in a screening room with a noisy hum emanating from the projector. Marling once again co-writes and stars, this time with director Zal Batmanglij, making his feature debut after one short, with another collaboration, The East, currently in post-production. Co-starring as the couple are Christopher Denham and Nicole Vicius, not newcomers, but new to me, and all three are terrific.

Batmanglij's brother Rostam Batmanglij, part of Vampire Weekend, composed the unforgettable mood music (I'm sorry to report that no clips seem to be available), and both are sons of Iranian-American cookbook author Najimeh Batmanglij. According to imdb, both Another Earth and Sound of My Voice premiered at Sundance in January 2011, although that one played here last August and this one began in theatres this April. Sound of My Voice may not have won any awards (yet), but it's definitely worth saving to your netflix queue (rated 74% by both critics and audiences on rottentomatoes). It's under an hour and a half, so you will likely stay awake. Just be sure to turn it up or put on the captions.