History of Sound: The Film

 

Last night I saw the film  History of Sound. The Unquiet Grave is a key song in the film. It also strikes home a bit for me.

 
The film opened tonight and I saw the first showing. I was the only person in the theater; so it was like a personal showing on multiple levels. It was at 4 PM; so hopefully more will attend.

This is not an action film. There are neither car chases nor flying heroes. There are no guns or bombs. Though a main character goes to WWI, there are no war scenes or deaths to witness. There is no happy ending... or rather an ending that makes sense and is neither happy nor unhappy.

 
This is not particularly a movie about songs, though we hear a few lovely, traditional songs and two songs are key to the film. The songs are metaphors for the primary story, a sad romance that begins, as the movie begins, with an unusual, musical love at first sight.

 
The film begins in 1917 and goes all the way to 1980. But the romance ends earlier. The film takes its time. And I like a director who takes his time, to paraphrase Mae West. How pleasing to watch a film that is quiet, that languishes on landscapes and surrounding nature, as well as music, rather than noise. No one is in a hurry, and neither should the viewer be. This is not a film about sex, and truly, sex in this film is but one manifestation of a deep, abiding love that the times and the circumstances alone cannot destroy. The circumstances are considerable, which makes the love and bond the men have all that much more powerful.

 
The acting is revelatory, moving, convincing, and the actors are so fascinating in the characters they create: genuine, complex, touching human beings. If anything, the film is too short; another hour of the characters' presence in the first half of the film would have been rewarding. Perhaps, the short story on which the film was based should have been a more substantial novel.