The History of Sound (c) MUBI
Film: The History of Sound
In Cinemas on Friday
Ever since the premise and cast of The History of Sound was announced, the inevitable comparison to Brokeback Mountain was soon made. Two respected young (and as far as we know, straight) actors are are playing two men at the start of the 20th century find love as they traverse the rural and unforgiving landscape of America. The two meet as students at the New England Conservatory of Music: Lionel (Paul Mescal), a simple and reserved man raised on a farm in Kentucky (shades of Ennis del Mar), and David (Josh O’Connor), a well-off, more gregarious man from Newport, Rhode Island (the more Jack Twist of the pair). As their love starts to bloom (in secret, of course), war breaks out in Europe and David is drafted, giving us the moment Lionel, at his most demonstrative, tells David: “Write. Send chocolates. Don’t die.” When David comes back and takes a job at a small college in Maine, he convinces Lionel to join him on a project where he goes around the country recording songs and stories on wax cylinders in danger of going extinct with the current generation. They take three months backpacking and travelling the backroads of America, giving the pair, like Ennis and Jack on Brokeback Mountain, the smallest moments of happiness that real life would never afford them.
The History of Sound (c) MUBI
The film, directed by Oliver Hermanus, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this summer, and was seen as a minor, inconsequential work. And yes, in the shadow of big, political films like Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident and Sentimental Value by Joachim Trier, both of which won awards at Cannes, The History of Sound would seem like a trifle as it centers around a love affair. Yes, the film is slow and not very plot heavy, but the emotional punch at the end felt earned and emotionally true, especially coming from the invaluable Chris Cooper as the older version of one of our protagonists. Hermanus, who also directed Bill Nighy to an Oscar nomination for Living three years ago, likes to explore the minutiae of love, as when we see why David keeps picking up feathers on their hikes and the breathtaking moment Lionel gets lost in a song during a bonfire. What is also fascinating are the songs that were found. It reminded me a lot of the 2000 film Songcatcher, which took place around the same time and had a queer theme (Janet McTeer received an Oscar nomination for her role as the music historian). The song that makes the most impact is "Silver Dagger," beautifully sung by Mescal, as a young girl who tells her excitable new love not to wake her mother, who wouldn’t approve of their relationship. The heartbreak is palpable.
Twinless (c) Lionsgate, Roadside Attactions
Film: Twinless
In Cinemas
Part The White Lotus creator Mike White (especially his early film, Chuck and Buck), part Dear Evan Hansen (yes, there’s even singing) and part writer/director/actor James Sweeney’s first film, Straight Up, Twinless, one of the more buzzed about films from this year’s Sundance Film Festival, is a fresh (if a little unbelievable) take on grief, especially on damaged souls who might believe they deserve the pain they received. The souls in this case are Roman (Dylan O’Brien of The Maze Runner films) and Dennis (Sweeney), two men who meet at a Portland support group for people who have lost their twins. Roman is the newest member as his twin Rocky recently died and Roman has moved from Idaho into Rocky’sapartment during the whole probate process. Roman, who is straight, immediately befriends Dennis, who is gay, in order to learn about Rocky’s life, who came out to Roman years ago, which causing their estrangement. Dennis tells Roman that he still feels guilty since his twin Dean (who was straight) died because Dennis was being selfish.
Twinless (c) Lionsgate, Roadside Attractions
Their growing friendship and learning to trust each other is the heart of this film, and while there is a controversial twist that makes the film harder to embrace than other gay films, once it is integrated into the plot, the film resets in a realistic way until its inevitably predictable conclusion. There’s a lot of twin imagery and metaphors. Some work, including a nice scene where Roman gets angry when he opens a package of pop tarts and there’s only one inside, and others, one of the end scenes in particular, seem forced (fraternal twins are completely erased in this film, like bisexuals who feel slighted in the LGBTQ community). Sweeney, like Mike White, makes the audience squirm by constantly upping the social awkwardness of the plot, as he did in “Straight Up,” and I both admire his bravery and wish he’d grow out of his need to always be so cringy. Sweeney’s character in “Straight Up” loves “The Gilmore Girls,” so I giggled when Lauren Graham showed up as Roman’s mother. But the real find is O’Brien, whose acting really matures nicely here, as both the tortured Roman and, in a nice flashback, as the easy going Rocky (with a Benson Boone stache). He is the reason this dark comedy works as well as it does.
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale (c) Focus Features
Film: Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale
In Cinemas on Friday
Now that Lord Julian Fellows has shifted his attention to the colonies in the HBO Series The Gilded Age, a show that has finally found its footing in its third season, what is he to do with Downton Abbey, the PBS series turned movie franchise that still seems to capture the attention of Anglophiles all over the world? For Fellows, he has written the latest installment and deemed it The Grand Finale. We’ll see if that sticks. But if we are to believe that this indeed the last time we see Lord Grantham (Hugh Bonneville) and his family upstairs and Mr. Carson (Jim Carter) and his crew downstairs, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale will certainly be a nice, if convoluted, send-off. With the first film focused on the a visit from the King and the second film surrounding a movie being filmed at the house, the third film covers the growing pains of the British aristocracy, as we find out early on that Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) has gotten a divorce from her race car driving lout, and thus has become a pariah in society (a plot recycled from The Gilded Age with poor Mrs. Fane as the American divorcee). As an A plot, the theme of hypocrisy and manners is fine, but Mary is relegated to being a passive figure in her own story. Her sister Edith (Laura Carmichael) seems to have more of an active role than she does. The B plot revolves around Cora’s brother Harold (Paul Giamatti), who has come to discuss their recently deceased mother’s estate, with his financial guy Gus Sambrook (Alessandro Nivola) in tow. Around the L plot, we also get a county fair being planned and even lower than that, maybe the R plot, is former butler Barrow (Robert James-Collier) seen from the outside as being the assistant to actor Guy Dexter (Dominic West), currently in a Noel Coward play in London, when they are actually in a committed relationship.
Downton Abbey (c) Focus Features
Although most of the characters from the show make an appearance, some are only given a cursory glance. When Tom arrives with a young girl in tow, I had to search my memory banks to remember who he was dating last. Turns out, the girl on his arm is his daughter Sybbe. Doh. Director Simon Curtis, returning after directing the last film, keeps everything as we know it with most characters known for only one trait, which means Kevin Doyle as poor Mr. Molesley has to overact again in his quest for relevance in his subplot. Of course, what is really missing in Fellowes’ script is wit, which is a byproduct of the Dowager Countess’s death in the series and actress Maggie Smith’s recently passing. Even the presence of the gays in the body of Noel Coward (a game Arty Froushan) is no match for the Dame Maggie’s biting line reading. Her painting does stand ominously over the proceedings of this film. Of course, times being what they are, the stories of a fading aristocracy do seem rather trivial while the ones of the downstairs staff are a bit more sympathetic. Even with the swooping drone shots and the new modern dresses (of 1930), the real star of Fellowes’ story has always been the majesty of Downton Abbey itself, played beautifully as always by Highclere Castle. But enough of that, let’s talk about Mrs. Bertha Russell of New York and her troubled marriage.
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