History of Sound Movie Review: Call it Piggyback Mountain, and proof that not every movie about two beautiful, great-looking men who find love in the pristine beauty of the American wilderness is a masterpiece.
It’s not Mescal and O’Connor’s fault either. This film, adapted by Ben Shattuck from a couple of his own stories, leaves the two actors nothing to do but look lovingly at each other and, in brief breaths, at other people. Nothing causes conflict in his story, not family, not studies, not clothes (both are partly impeccably tailored suits, despite his modest origins), not even the First World War.
What about being gay in 1917-1920 in Maine, United States? Lionel (Mescal) and David (O’Connor) seem to have never heard of prejudice, as they live and love in tents in the middle of nowhere. David hints at it at one point, but Lionel (in the film’s low-key, muttering, soft-pastel style) murmurs that he’s not worried.
Even the harsh farm life in Kentucky to which Lionel sometimes returns does not alter the general languor. Lionel himself is equally at home wielding a shovel in the snow as a cane for the Oxford choir or speaking Italian to a fellow Roman. David’s background is non-existent.
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The film delights when the two are together and embark on a project that involves walking around Maine collecting folk songs on a rudimentary device (it’s David’s passion as a musicologist, and Lionel, the singer, falls in love with him too). Some of the isolated grass families, who open their homes and hearts to them, suggest more interesting stories than our itinerant researchers.
There’s a sense of genuine loss at one point in the film, but before you decide that this is where The Story of Sound comes to an end, he sacrifices that moment for yet another monologue.
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In Lionel’s own words, after having sung and directed a choir and done all that, popular songs are still “the most exciting music.” If only the movie had more warmth or gore.
The Story of the Sound Film Director: Oliver Hermanus
Cast of the movie History of Sound: Paul Mescal, Josh O’Connor, Chris Cooper
The History of Sound movie rating: 2 stars