The History of Sound (2025) review

Musically gifted Lionel (Paul Mescal) leaves his native Kentucky to study at the New England Conservatory, which is where he meets David (Josh O'Connor) and they become lovers, but life throws them some twists (as it tends to do): David's sent to fight in World War I, the two reunite at Bowdoin College to make recordings of Americans singing songs, they drift apart again, Lionel sings in Rome and later dates Clarissa (Emma Canning) in Oxford, and then he returns to the States to discover his mother's passed away ... and so has David.  Screenwriter Ben Shattuck - who's currently married to actress/comedian Jenny Slate - expanded his own short story for the big screen, although it's nothing more than a vapid Brokeback Mountain clone (with a light splash of Call Me by Your Name for the European segments and the ending) that wastes not only the time of its talented young leads but its audience as well with its lack of any tangible insight into issues like personal identity or "love" itself.  It's so gray and lifeless if you set it outside an Emergency Room the triage team wouldn't even check for a pulse and immediately grab the shovels.