The film allows us to marinate in its understated moments, and the approach backfires – these characters are so muted, they never feel fully fleshed out, the complexity of their emotions trapped and suffocated like the moth and candle flame young Lionel captures in a jar early in the film. The film so often misses O’Connell’s face, which is unique and provocative and mesmerizing (like Adam Driver’s); his character is relegated to the margins so David may haunt Lionel, but so little is revealed in the moments O’Connell is on screen, that the film feels half-empty. Although it sidesteps the stereotypical machinations of queer romances set during times of prejudice and persecution, The History of Sound is stripped-down and plaintive to a fault, leaning into its bland melancholy instead of embellishing it with, say, the occasional bit of comedy or a bit of lust.
Author: mliss1578
Published at: 2025-11-10 22:30:00
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