'Sound Spring' Review: A Wonderful Documentary Time Capsule of Yellow Springs, Ohio
- Romey Norton
- 1 minute ago
- 3 min read
By Romey Norton - April 22, 2025
Directed with playful precision and a generous heart, Sound Spring tells the story of eight vignettes that paint a vibrant, funny, and deeply human portrait of Yellow Springs, Ohio. But don’t expect your typical small-town documentary. Sound Spring pirouettes between the poetic and the absurd, inviting us to reconsider how we tell history, how it’s told, and who gets to tell it.
What makes Sound Spring so compelling is its format. Villagers aren’t just talking about their memories, they’re performing them. Literally. The film restages real audio interviews with residents who lip-sync, dance, or rollerblade their way through their own words. It’s like a community theatre fever dream in the best possible way.
The documentary film opens with a woman speaking over a taped monologue of herself, who then walks to a fresh natural spring. We cut to a busy bar, where we see many individuals drinking, playing pool, and conversing. It’s a friendly, familiar vibe that sets the tone for the whole film.
Each person we follow/watch perform is engaging and relatable. There is something for everyone, as we watch someone rollerblade while talking about her family’s history, their education, and government decisions. Another freezes in a different breakdancing headstands mid-interview, and a woman reminisces about her family’s roots post-slavery with a calm dignity that sticks with you long after the credits roll. There's something powerful about seeing people re-enact their imperfect recollections. Everyone is unsure, stumbling, full of laughter and emotion. It feels real, because it is. It’s personal and adds to the history of Ohio.
But instead of slipping into the solemn or sanctimonious, the film stays light on its feet. It acknowledges the weight of history while reminding us that history is never just dates and documents; it’s people, voices, and the strange things they remember. These little stories are what give us a rich history, and in these stories, we can relate and find a common ground.
Sound Spring is lo-fi but lush, shot with intimacy and affection. The camera shooting style is a mix of handheld and static shots, giving an investigative and fly-on-the-wall style of filming. There are layers of old photos, ambient noise, and scenic shots of Yellow Springs, giving viewers a genuine sense of place. It’s energetic and engaging as a viewer, and I think it shows a lot of Yellow Springs, so someone who has never heard of or been to the place can get an authentic feel and vibe for it.
The downsides to this documentary are that it can feel disjointed, flitting from one story to another, and the repetition of voices over voices could be irritating for some viewers. It’s not often, but I found it hard to engage and hear when it did happen. However, artistically, this reflects the way people speak over one another without really listening, so there is beauty in that. The people are not natural performers and storytellers, so their voices can come across as monotone, which again, could be hard to engage with and form any allegiance with.
The ending is sweet and wholesome and packs a hard punch. If you’re a fan of creative documentaries or just love films that blur the line between fact and performance, Sound Spring deserves a spot on your watchlist. It's heartfelt and full of moments that will make you pause, laugh, and then maybe Google “Yellow Springs” just to see if this town really exists. (Spoiler: it does.)
Sound Spring had its world premiere at the 2025 Cleveland International Film Festival
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