The cult members in Sound Of My Voice (Zal Batmanglij, 2011) are offered apples for a snack. After a few bites, the initiates are then told to vomit what they've eaten of the apples. Or apple. It is by virtue of its spacey tone that this indie film encourages us to also think of those apples in the symbolic singular. And be amused too, because along with being unsettling, Voice is often quite funny. Or funny, maybe.
II.
Peter (Christopher Denham) and Lorna (Nicole Vicius) are a young Los Angeles couple who have gone undercover to make a documentary about an area cult. In the process, they are made to take a decontaminating shower, are blindfolded, and then taken to an undisclosed location. But before they can enter the body of the cult (in a house-basement), Peter has to correctly perform a ritual handshake.
It was this handshake that gave me my first big laugh of the film. It brought high school days back to mind, when the jocks and other young gentlemen of the popular crowd greeted their own with coded handshakes. The cult handshake in Voice carries the adolescent exercise I remember to a hilarious level, what with digits joining, clasping and releasing in a precise, intricate pattern.
Having passed the handshake test, Peter and Lorna meet the other cult members, and then the cult-leader, Maggie (Brit Marling). Even before she says a word, we are struck by Maggie's appearance. In her flowing white robe, with her long, wavy golden hair, she reminds you of an alluring figure from the ancient myths. Speaking, Maggie floats a whopper: she claims to be from the future: the year 2054.
Like all who possess the power to persuade, Maggie places great emphasis on how she delivers her message. Sitting on the floor with her immediate audience, she speaks in a low, soothing voice, her smile radiating hypnotic bliss. From the future she might be, but Maggie sure knows how to work the charms of an old-fashioned seducer.
III.
As Voice progresses, questions are raised about Maggie's claims, as well as her true identity. Is she in fact a fugitive criminal? Why are cult members asked to learn about firearms? Are Maggie's requests of her followers always moral, or even legal?
But right when you think you know where it's going, Sound Of My Voice will throw you, up to its final twist. Give it a look, certainly. Just hold off on the movie-time snacks, til you're past the bit with the apple upchuck.
