The History of Sound

Mescal and O'Connor deliver beautiful and honest performances in this gorgeous movie. Audiences will detect shades of "Brokeback Mountain," but the rawness of Appalachian folk music brings an added honesty and simplicity to the story. One of the best films of the year.i strongly recommend the movie.

I knew nothing about this movie nor the book. The conclusion is that it is not a perfect movie, not even close, but I enjoyed the movie.

It is a slow movie. Lionel (Paul Mescal) takes most of the screen time but David (Josh O'Connor) stole every scenes. From his gaze to moving his mouth, Lionel was no wonder under David's spell and followed David wherever he went. It makes the heartbreaking when Lionel found out what had happened to David.

Capturing the history of sound back in the 20s was hard, just as finding a forbidden love in that era. I wish the director used more dialogs to express their feelings to each other and run parallel with the project they did in the movie.

Slow moving, beautifully photographed and acted, exquisitely crafted love story. One for the ages. Make no mistake about it, this is a profoundly moving motion picture experience that defies all expectations. The cumulative effect of using unknow actors. An achingly slow pace and a naked score (you will know it when you hear it) assures you will pay attention to the subtleties and nuances of the plot, the anguish of the characters and the final denouement. This is not for modern day action junkies nor attention deficit disorder victims. Huge wordless spaces between fragments of dialogue will alienate modern day adventure junkies who need a jolt every ten seconds. This is an exquisite filme.

Honestly, this film has been on my watchlist since 2021, and after the whole COVID-19 mess, I was pretty sure I'd never get to see it.

But unfortunately, it ended in major disappointment.

First off, it's important to point out that this is an adaptation of a book/short story which I haven't read.

Back to the film: the portrayal of 1917 is absolutely stunning. From the color palette to the costumes, even the tiniest background details are handled beautifully. I wouldn't be surprised if it gets an Oscar nod in one of those categories.

But not everything runs so smoothly. Nearly half of the film's most powerful scenes feel like carbon copies of Paul Mescal's earlier work-almost shot-for-shot, moments he's already known for in other films and series.

Why they chose to do that, whether it was director Oliver Hermanus or cinematographer Alexander Dynan, I don't know. But I can say for sure it was the wrong call.

Add to that the weak dialogue and a queer storyline that feels underdeveloped, and the film ends up miles away from where it's clearly trying to go.

That said, the music choices and Chris Cooper's presence earn it some points back.

The History of Sound is well written, acted, directed and filmed attraction between two men who's lives intersected for too brief a period of time. I was surprised that Josh and Paul sang that well. Unrequited love pulls at your hearts and messes with your minds. The scenery in Kentucky, Maine, London and Italy set in the era around WWI and afterwards pleases the eyes.