Review of The History of Sound (2025)
Seen in 2026.
Seen at Draken, GIFF 2026.
Two men meet at a conservatory in 1917 over a shared interest in folk music.
This is just as good as Brokeback Mountain (2005), using even smaller, less dramatic means to reach the same depths of emotion. David’s depression is clearly not just shell shock; before he heads off to WW1 he implies that futility in the face of mortality is a central fact in the life of a young man who’s been orphaned twice already. He takes this for granted, and neither he nor Lionel have the necessary skills to talk about it. The fact that their romance is homosexual is significant in building a sense of mono no aware, but it is masculinity that dooms them. Homophobic persecution is only a latent possibility. The cinematography is beautiful but there is—fortunately—no sense of spectacle to the love story. Although it is set in the era of The Power of the Dog (2021), the film is not a Western either. That makes it even more impressive.