Lionel (Paul Mescal) and David (Josh O’Connor) meet in 1917 while attending the New England Conservatory of Music. They bond over a love of music and soon start an illicit relationship. David is conscripted to fight in World War I but he returns and they travel together recording folk songs of their countrymen in rural Maine in the winter of 1920.
That summary covers the first half of the film, and when they part at the end of that trip, they never meet again. From then on we see how Lionel’s life pans out in a mostly conventional way, and that illustrates one of the problems with Oliver Hermanus’ stately drama. Lionel finds work in Rome and Oxford before returning to his Kentucky home. None of that is very illuminating or in any way unusual and I could not understand why more time was not spent on their trip and relationship.
Ben Shattuck’s script, based on two of his short stories, dissolves into a dull slog through Lionel’s unremarkable life until a predictable last scene that lacks the emotional impact that Shattuck was striving for, despite using a needle drop of the evocative Atmosphere by Joy Division. On the plus side, Mescal and O’Connor give committed performances and Emma Canning adds a spark to the English scenes.
Rating: 4.5 out of 10