Friends Zal Batmanglij and Brit Marling wrote Sound of My Voice as a reaction to the shock they had felt moving to Southern California.  We’ve all heard about how everyone seems to be searching for something in the bright Cali sun, and here, in Sound of My Voice, is a breathtaking look at how far some people will go to belong to something.  Utterly mesmerizing and beautifully acted, this is a hauntingly brilliant film that leaves you with more questions than answers.  Instead of tying things up with a bow, Sound of My Voice lets you draw your own conclusions; a brave piece of filmmaking that stands out among most of today’s cookie-cutter productions.  This is the movie Martha Marcy May Marlene wanted to be but just missed.

Novice journalists Peter and Lorna (Christopher Denham and Nicole Vicius) are people who are searching.  At the start of this film they are blindfolded, zip-cuffed, put into a minivan (always thought those things were creepy) and made to shower, scrub, leave phones behind and then complete a bizzare series of hand-clapping handshakes that look a lot like the old “Miss Sue from California” handclap game.  But this is no game, it’s the beginning of acceptance into a strange group of individuals led by Maggie, a beautiful, mysterious woman who says she has come from the future to save them.  As Peter and Lorna get pulled deeper into the cult, they must figure out their true reasons for trying to gain acceptance, even as things begin to get more and more unnerving.

Maggie, played with a glowing mysterious beauty by Brit Marling, looks like a beatific, white linen-shrouded Mary among her white clothed followers.  Questions of authenticity bounce back and forth between Peter and Lorna.  Is Maggie crazy, dangerous or just an incredibly believable con artist?  Who is really leading the show, Maggie or creepy Klaus, the cult’s bouncer-cum-entry man (played with eerie focus by Richard Wharton)?  And most important of all, are Peter and Lorna beginning to believe Maggie’s story…and should they?

Sound of My Voice takes off in many directions, but there’s always a tantalizing connection brought to the surface.  That’s not to say that every question is answered, but with this film any answers laid out before you would only serve to dull the effect of the film’s themes of mystery, faith and the need for connection.  Sound of My Voice is a great film to catch early in the evening, so you and your friends can get your existential on and discuss these weighty issues over a pint or two after you’ve left the theater.

Catch the first twelve minutes of Sound of My Voice on the movie’s Web site.