Sound of Metal dives into two clichés as its protagonist learns about the effectiveness of 12-step group therapy and that a disability isn’t really debilitating, yet the drama manages to come out intact on the other side. For writer/co-writer Darius Marder focuses on a DIY noise rock drummer who loses his hearing, and since this music world is hardly explored in film, this gives the scenario a bit more freshness. The movie also features a riveting performance by Riz Ahmed, who is in every scene of this slightly overstuffed but still riveting two-hour film.

It opens with a tight focus on Ruben Stone (Ahmed) playing drums in a tiny, packed venue while he and his girlfriend and guitarist, Lou (Olivia Cook), pound out some truly abrasive, sludgy music. We next see him the following morning in an RV exercising and making very healthy smoothies, which he tries to get Lou to drink. For a rock ‘n’ roller, he seems pretty put together. And then, at a sound check, his hearing goes. From there, he starts falling apart, and Lou, who has her own issues with cutting, gets Ruben to check into a group home for addicts who are also deaf. There Ruben is forced to realign his thinking and his concept of who he is under the tutelage of Vietnam veteran Joe (Paul Raci), who runs the house and meetings.

That’s the plot in a nutshell, but it’s the specifics and the care that Marder and Ahmed put into the film that make it stand out. There is a great deal of detail and truth in the presentation. Lou and Ruben’s tour bus feels like a tour bus. Ruben and Lou’s tour life feels like tour life. Joe’s group home feels like a group home (populated with deaf actors), and Joe is the ideal person to run it: wizened, with a face full of premature wrinkles and a limp ponytail. It’s a good thing too, because of all the characters that could have gone south, it’s the clichéd leader of the group program who gives sound, life changing advice. Mind you, that’s pretty much what he offers, but the casting is so spot-on that this cliché is skated right over.

Marder also has a knack for allowing a character to blossom slowly, showcasing small mannerisms and moments that you recall further on down the line. For example, as stated above, Ruben exercises in the morning and drinks disgustingly healthy smoothies. Later on, you find out he was an addict and clean for four years. Eventually, he attends a school for deaf children as he needs to learn sign language. He notices a boy who simply cannot sit still. He recognizes a kindred soul. In the playground, the kid is on the top of the slide and Ruben sits at the bottom. He unconsciously (because he’s a drummer) starts tapping a rhythm on the slide. The boy taps back. As they continue, the kid puts his ear to the slide to hear the vibrations, which calm him. The aha moment arrives: Ruben has attention deficit disorder. He gets this kid.

Moments like this, coupled with Ahmed’s performance, lift this well above typical indie fare. Ahmed has the intensity of De Niro and the sensitivity of James Dean. He is simply magnetic and one of the best young actors to come by in a long, long time. He’s every scene, and it’s impossible not to look at and care for him. Watching Ahmed as Ruben Stone is like moving close to an impressionist painting and sussing out detail after detail.

He is matched by Wilde’s Lou. When we meet her, she is delivering a feral musical performance, but once you see here offstage, you sense the fragility and the watchful eye Ruben keeps over her. Yet her laugh is deep and infectious. When she learns about Ruben’s hearing issue, she takes charge, terrified that he will start using again. As Ruben is inside talking to Joe for the first time, the camera cuts to Lou sitting on the porch waiting, and the fear in her eyes is palpable. She and Ruben saved each other in the past, and now she has to, at least temporarily, let him go for his own good.

Sound of Metal is a tad too long, though your attention never wonders. It sometimes lingers on an obvious moment or hammers home a point a bit too often, but the skill in which it is put together easily overwhelms any quibbles. Simply put, it is a moving film with a mesmerizing lead performance.