By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN? Tuesday 6 January, released in the UK Friday 23 January 2026 RUNTIME: 128 minutes

It’s the gift of Paul Mescal’s singer Lionel to ‘see’ sound that compels him to seek out Josh O’Connor’s musician David as the latter sits at a piano playing a rare folk song familiar to both men.

• Read on for reasons including how this is a melancholic, quietly understated film which will eventually be regarded as a classic

You join us in the bar of the New England Conservatory of Music in 1917 where they bond over their love of music before going back to rich orphan David’s apartment to have sex.

It’s an unusual meet-cute because Mescal’s (All Of Us Strangers won our Best Film monsta in 2024) Lionel is sensitive compared with O’Connor’s (God’s Own Country won the same accolade 7 years earlier) charismatic charmer.

David is drafted to fight in World War One while rural farm boy on a scholarship Lionel remains at home because of his poor sight.

In 1919 Lionel receives a letter from David notifying him of his return from Europe, his employment in a Maine college and an invitation to join him on a department-funded trip across the state to collect folk songs on wax cylinders.

The importance of folk songs to under-threat communities and their use to pass on evolving history, tradition, heartbreak, joy and pain through generations are explored beautifully as David and Lionel enjoy the happiest times of their lives although they won’t appreciate that until later.

There’s a framing device with the older Lionel reflecting on shared experiences and coming to terms with what we would now call post-traumatic stress disorder that has blighted David since his combat experience.

The use of evolving folk songs is realised brilliantly not least with the deployment of the moving Silver Dagger which is familiar to us from the 90s in the evocative electro dance version by Saint Etienne (watch below) as Like A Motorway.

O’Connor and Mescal (A Streetcar Named Desire, Almeida) are 2 of the UK and Ireland’s finest actors and tears are likely as we slowly begin to understand Lionel’s pain at the couple’s separation and his desolation as the truth behind David’s disappearance becomes clearer.

The History Of Sound appears to have been sidelined in the Oscar push for Hamnet, also starring Mescal which is released on Friday (9 January 2026), but we would recommend seeking out both.

The History Of Sound is a melancholic, quietly understated film which will eventually be regarded as a classic that understandably dials back the overwhelming passion you might be expecting from such a project exploring instead darker themes.

• Main pictures via Facebook courtesy The History Of Sound
• Have you seen a Paul Mescal or Josh O’Connor film before and what did you think of this 1? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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