The History of Sound

Following his 2022 Kurosawa Akira remake LIVING, Oliver Hermanus now joins with writer Ben Shattuck to produce a portrait of two men whose shared love for American folk music becomes a conduit for their intimacy. Lionel (Paul Mescal), a young man from rural Kentucky, leaves his family farm and heads north to attend Boston Conservatory, where he meets David (Josh O’Connor), a fellow music student, just before the outbreak of World War I. When David returns from the war, he invites Lionel to join him on a trip through rural Maine, collecting songs on wax phonograph cylinders. Their emotional bond is complicated both by David’s battle trauma and their somewhat different perspectives on the cultural ethics of ethnomusicology. The two men drift apart. Years later, even after he has attempted to move on, Lionel remains haunted by their brief relationship. As one might expect given the subject matter, Hermanus employs an all-enveloping soundscape, with forlorn silences broken by the piercing cries of traditional song. THE HISTORY OF SOUND is a sepia-toned memory piece that considers the pull between expression and intellection, what comes naturally and what must be fought for. (Michael Sicinski)

Oliver Hermanus: SHIRLEY ADAMS (2009), BEAUTY (2011), THE ENDLESS RIVER (2015), MOFFIE (2019), LIVING (2022)