'Sound of My Voice' is mesmerizing

Cult classic: Brit Marling plays Maggie an enigmatic cult leader in 'Sound of My Voice.' (Credit: Fox Searchlight Pictures)

The Sound of My Voice (* * * 1/2 out of four, R, in select cities Friday) is powered by a twentysomething, angelic-looking cult leader who mixes down-to-earth humor with an abiding melancholy and a mysterious ability to seem to know people's innermost thoughts.

That idea is intriguing enough. But this clever, low-budget film kicks the concept up a few notches to mesmerizing. What begins as a tense tale of a couple of amateur documentary filmmakers infiltrating a mysterious cult veers off in an unexpected and even more unsettling direction. The result is a contemplative sci-fi thriller. The unfolding story is consistently disturbing, probing the human desire to believe — in a variety of extreme scenarios.

An intricate and taut thriller, it's co-written and produced by Brit Marling, who also stars as Maggie, the enigmatic high priestess of the cult.

Director and co-writer Zal Batmanglij shows how maximum dramatic value can be fashioned from a minimal budget, provided it's bolstered by a clever idea, well-written script and believable acting.

A large part of the film's power lies in the spell cast by Marling as the charismatic Maggie, the leader of a highly secretive cult based in a nondescript house in Southern California. Is she a controlling crackpot who wants to mess with people's minds? Or is she, as she claims, a time traveler? And why are government officials apparently on her trail?

Batmanglij crafts the well-paced tale with unstinting suspense, and Marling's luminous performance weaves a trance-like atmosphere of near-paranoia. While Maggie's voice initially appears gently soothing, there's an undercurrent of controlling menace, so the title is particularly apt.

Would-be documentarians Peter (Christopher Denham) and Lorna (Nicole Vicius) are assimilated with remarkable speed into the cult's ethos. Locked in a room with other white-robed folks, all listen raptly as the ethereal cult leader Maggie recounts her elaborate personal saga.

Insidious, engrossing and thought-provoking, Sound of My Voice is certain to get under your skin.

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