SHB_73 The Sounding is a terrific movie based on a play by Catherine Eaton who not only directs but stars in the movie as well. The story takes place in Maine where an elderly Grandfather (Harris Yulin) looks after his granddaughter Liv. Liv is believed to be mute and does not speak at all except quotes from Shakespeare plays like Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet. After her Grandfather passes away from cancer Liv is taken by force to a mental institution while there the psychiatrists try to make Liv speak but she only speaks in Shakespeare and will write the works on her clothes. The movie is blessed with wonderful acting particularly by Harris Yulin who's grandfather role will leave you feeling emotional. But its the character of Liv played by Catherine Eaton that steals the movie. Will Liv learn to communicate with her own words instead of quotes by Shakespeare? You will have to see the movie to find out. The Sounding is one of the best independent films to come out in 2017. Highly recommended.

ritanezami The Sounding is a brave film about resistance: resistance to conformity, to conventionality, to the expectations of the dominant culture and its narratives about normality and sanity and the kinds of lives we're allowed to pursue without the cultural enforcers, including the medical establishment and the state, coming down to set us straight via medication and even incarceration. So long as we speak the exoburban language of consumption and self and reaction and generally behave, chances are good we'll be left alone. But, if, one day, we lose faith in conventional discourse and subvert it by beginning to speak . . . Shakespeare, well, all bets are off.Catherine Eaton is mesmerizing as Liv, a young woman who, on a windswept island off the Maine coast, has chosen to remain silent for years. Eventually, she begins to speak again, but in an English composed entirely of Shakespeare's words. That's when the assault on her freedom begins. She must be protected, mustn't she? Surely, she must be normalized, the cause of her anomalous behavior diagnosed, and a path to "recovery" prescribed and followed. Surely she must give up her resistance to those who would help her. Surely.Ms. Eaton both directs the film and delivers a masterful, haunting, and powerful performance as Liv. The cinematography is breathtaking — the Maine coast is difficult to get wrong, but its desolate, Novemberish beauty is a poignant setting for Liv's struggle to be free and live an authentic life as she imagines it. Eaton has written that the film is ultimately about "otherness" and its cost. It couldn't come at a more propitious moment than the present that is witnessing a demonization of the foreign Other who presents such a vulnerable scapegoat onto which too many Americans are projecting their anxiety and insecurity. It will be a great benefit for this film to be available for all Americans to see and think about.

NicoletteSciore I was blown away by how well the words of Shakespeare were used to drive the story. So much art in one movie. I was captivated from the first turning point and empathetic towards the protagonist. This is pure drama. I felt a surge of emotions in many scenes. There were very few that fell flat but the overall story was poignant and masterfully executed. A few times I noticed some some poor sound mixing which left me a bit distracted and took away from the touching scenes. This was however, a breath of fresh air to watch. I simply loved it.

Conor Bresnan This is a fascinating and very well made movie. A women decides not to talk, despite being mentally capable, and after her grandfather dies will only talk in Shakespearean quotations. It's a movie that asks the fundamental question of communication and let's you answer it. With a tremendous supporting performance from Harris Yulin, the grandfather, a well designed and written screenplay by newcomers Catherine Eaton and Bryan Delaney and a, quite simply, intriguing plot, this movie certainly succeeds. While it needs a little polish, as it drags in spots in the beginning and doesn't nail its ending, it is already very good nonetheless.