The History of Sound: A Gorgeous Adaptation of a Somewhat Sluggish Story (Blu-ray)

The Film:

Just four years ago, director Oliver Hermanus did the near-impossible by delivering an astounding remake of the Akira Kurosawa masterpiece "Ikiru" entitled "Living," an incredible accomplishment that featured both an Oscar-nominated, career-best performance from the great Bill Nighy, and an Oscar-nominated screenplay from Kazuo Ishiguro. After taking a small break to direct a few episodes of the miniseries "Mary & George," he made his return to the big screen last year with his latest project "The History of Sound," which played in competition at Cannes before getting a somewhat limited release in the US & abroad. Reviews for his most recent effort have been rather mixed from both critics & audiences ever since its premiere, but after his remarkable previous work, it becomes quite easy to give him the benefit of the doubt and dive right in to see what he has in store for us next.

Beginning in 1917, the film centers on Lionel Worthing (Paul Mescal), a student at the New England Conservatory of Music. While at a pub with some friends, he happens to meet fellow student David White (Josh O'Connor) and bonds over their mutual love of folk songs. They quickly develop a physical relationship that eventually gets disrupted by World War I, resulting in the Conservatory's closure, David getting drafted, and Lionel returning home to help on the family farm. Lionel finally receives a letter from David in 1919 in which he invites him on a trip to Maine to collect folk songs for a college-sponsored project. The two men reunite and reconnect, meeting all kinds of people as they go about their mission to collect the music on wax cylinders, but can things be the way they were before, or has their time apart during the war changed things a little too much?

"The History of Sound" is a sweeping, emotional romantic drama that starts off as these things often do, with the couple meeting each other, bonding, and becoming intimately close. Naturally, their relationship gets interrupted (in this case, by world events), subsequently leading to their intriguing reunion later on where we see if they can pick up where they left off. From here, the film tries to have them rediscovering their relationship while gathering their recordings, but it's also at this point where the film becomes somewhat strangely fragmented. That is to say, without going into spoilers, that it moves on to a different section with a different focus, all before coming back around and turning into a kind of mystery that Lionel slowly tries to uncover, eventually concluding with another segment that can't help but feel rather unnecessary.

Despite the shortcomings in the structure, one truly has to admire Ben Shattuck's attempt to adapt his own short stories "The History of Sound" and "Origin Stories" into a film, but as it goes about its lengthy two-hour runtime, it truly begins to feel like as though we are indeed watching short stories being stretched out into feature length. It's hardly a bad film, but there's certainly no denying how padded out it feels to reach that two-hour mark. That said, it's beautifully made, featuring gorgeous cinematography, production design, and costumes, so while it's just kind of drifting along its slow-burning narrative, you can at least admire its remarkable aesthetic. Plus, on top of all of that, you have some fantastic work from Oscar nominee Paul Mescal and Emmy winner Josh O'Connor, who turn in wonderfully compelling performances.

All things considered, its positive elements do their best to hold up the rather sluggish narrative, but in the end, they don't do quite enough to get it where it needs to be. Perhaps if they had scaled it back some, a little more focus could've been brought to this emotional tale, which, in turn, would've made it feel like it wasn't just wandering about as Lionel tries to get to the bottom of things. Again, it was certainly an admirable attempt to bring this romantic tale to the big screen, but sometimes in trying to do too much, you simply end up drowning out what's most important.

Video/Audio:

"The History of Sound" comes to Blu-ray in a 1.85:1, 1080p High Definition transfer of outstanding quality. The picture is remarkably sharp & crisp throughout the entire 128-minute duration, perfectly highlighting its exquisite period details. Likewise, the 5.1 & 2.0 DTS-HD MA audio tracks are fantastic, giving you all of the dialogue and music in outstanding quality. Overall, Mubi has done a wonderful job in both departments for the film's physical debut.

Special Features:

None.

Conclusion:

Oliver Hermanus' "The History of Sound" is an admirable attempt to bring a pair of Ben Shattuck's short stories to the big screen, doing so with incredible beauty in its various visual elements and a pair of wonderful performances from Paul Mescal & Josh O'Connor, but unfortunately these positive elements aren't quite enough to offset the fragmented, sluggish nature of the narrative, ultimately leaving us with a gorgeous adaptation that's simply a little too padded out within its two-hour runtime.

Score: 3/5

Now available on Blu-ray.

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