It is already an established concept that music is a universal language that brings people together – every December when Spotify Wrapped drops is an annual reminder.
While we may enjoy different singers and genres, once that beat kicks in or that high note is hit, something resonates across borders, cultures and languages.
The History of Sound is about how it brings two lovers together, on multiple occasions, throughout the early 1900s.
Lionel Worthing (Paul Mascal) is a poor farm-boy with a connection to music so deep that he can visualise and taste it.
His unique affinity leads him to the Boston Conservatory to study his favourite topic on a scholarship, where he hears David White (Josh O’Connor) playing piano and singing folk music.
The two are immediately drawn together over their shared passion for music and spend the night together.
Their physical bond is broken when David is drafted (Lionel is safe due to his failing eyesight) and sent off to war and Lionel returns to his family farm.
When David miraculously returns, he invites Lionel to accompany him on a college-funded project to collect audio recordings (on wax cylinder technology) of a variety of folk songs from across the country.
This gives them the opportunity to spend 24 hours a day together for months at a time exploring their shared passions and strengthening their relationship, until David abruptly leaves.
Lionel moves on with his life and the two remain in touch via hand-written letters, until eventually David stops responding, leaving Lionel with many unanswered questions.
The History of Sound, based on two short stories by Ben Shattuck, beautifully captures the universality of music, how it unifies us and the intimacy it creates between two people.
It is also a moving story about two men who connect over a shared interest and passion that keeps them bonded even though they are thousands of miles apart.
There is an ongoing longing between these two lovers as they come together and are separated by various forces – and heartbreakingly at one point, may never reunite again.
Their project not only captured history and culture that could have academic significance but on a much more personal level, their recordings become memories and time capsules for the two men.
While there are slight echoes of the “gay cowboys” movie, calling this Brokeback Mountain with music would be unfair to what the filmmakers have created – it is a delicate love-story in its own right.
While it is always wonderful to see films explore the intricacies of romantic queer relationships, there are the occasional story developments that feel a little too close to a hetero-normative drama.
“Will my husband ever return from war?” radiates through a significant section of the story.
For its very minor shortcomings, a very slow-burn pace means the passion and tension wanes from time to time, it is worth it to witness the delivery of a simple two word greeting during an emotional and cathartic moment that is sure to linger and leave you in a puddle of your own tears.
7.5 out of 10
