Musician/author Greta Morgan picks 4 movies to pair with ‘The Lost Voice’
Greta Morgan is a songwriter, storyteller, and multi-instrumentalist who has performed with Vampire Weekend, Jenny Lewis, Gold Motel, and The Hush Sound. She’s also the author of The Lost Voice, a new memoir chronicling how she rediscovered her artistic voice after losing her ability to sing. We asked Greta to pick the movies that best pair with The Lost Voice.
The Rider
I was moved to tears by Chloe Zhao’s The Rider, a film my friend shared with me soon after my vocal diagnosis. It tells the story of a young rodeo star, Brady, whose career is cut short by a brain injury and the identity crisis that follows when doctors tell him he can never ride again without risking death or paralysis. Brady regularly visits his friend who had been paralyzed in a riding accident and, in one scene, Brady gently places the reins in his friend’s hands, letting him mimic the motion of riding. I felt the ache they both shared for losing the ability to do what they loved most.
My friend Bianca who showed me the movie pointed out afterward that the actor, Brady Jandreau, was playing himself, as the movie was based on his life. Watching The Rider planted a seed in me that an artist could tell the story of their loss in another artistic format. It would be years before I made my own transformation from songwriter to author, but that film proved that the ending of one version of life is often the beginning of a new one.
Sound of Metal
In Darius Marder’s The Sound of Metal, punk-metal drummer Ruben Stone experiences sudden and extreme hearing loss while on tour with his band, a duo with his girlfriend, Lou. Ruben, played by Riz Ahmed, is a recovering addict and Lou is concerned he’ll relapse after the diagnosis, so his sponsor finds him a rural shelter for deaf recovering addicts, run by a veteran named Joe who lost his hearing in the Vietnam War.
One of Joe’s lines stopped me in my tracks: “The world does keep moving, and it can be a damn cruel place. But for me, those moments of stillness—that place, that’s the kingdom of God. And that place will never abandon you.” After my vocal injections, I spent many quiet hours in unchosen silence after vocal procedures. At first I feared it, but I eventually came to value—and even long for—that space of peace. Watching Ruben surrender to that kind of silence showed me what was possible.
The Fabelmans
In The Fabelmans, a semi-autobiographical portrait of his own childhood, Steven Spielberg shows us the scene in which young Sammy Fabelman learns his parents are divorcing. In that moment of devastation, he shows the way his young mind begins framing the moment as if it were in a movie—where to place the camera, what angle he would’ve chosen—even while it’s actively happening.
I related to this instinct of translating life’s chaos into a composition as a way of understanding and coping with it. Writing has given me a sense of authorship over my life events. By deciding how to frame my story, I was able to crystallize my understanding of who I have been, who I am becoming, and what kind of story I want to be living moving forward.
Nomadland
I loved both the film and the book Nomadland, and felt a deep resonance with two of its themes: the stark, expansive beauty of the desert and the unexpected, life-altering companionship found along the road.
In the wake of my vocal diagnosis, I spent almost a year wandering—mostly Utah, New Mexico, Colorado—because I longed for landscapes that could mirror the raw, ravaged ache I was feeling inside. Desert landscapes also felt like nature’s blank canvases—a place to dream up new ways of being.
In Nomadland, the main character Fern (Frances McDormand) is befriended by Linda, a connection that bolsters both of them during difficult times. Similarly, in The Lost Voice, my chance meeting with wilderness guide Sadie Leonhardt grew into a profound friendship. She encouraged and prepared me to venture into the wilderness on my own, presented the idea that the loss of my voice was an opportunity to explore the other aspects of my identity. She also helped me rediscover parts of myself I thought I’d lost along the way.