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| Directed by Jonathan Demme; Starring David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Alex Weir, Jerry Harrison, Bernie Worrell, Steven Scales, Tina Weymouth, Lynn Mabry, and Ednah Holt |
There is a nice little list of films that I have never seen that are generally considered classics. Sure I’ve seen every Best Picture winner, but there are lesser known critical favorites that I’ve yet to see (for example, I’ve still never seen Yellow Submarine). It was only recently that I saw Battleship Potemkin and Picnic at Hanging Rock, two films that have been considered artistically important films. Where Potemkin showed silent films at their best, Stop Making Sense showed the best of the concert film. I had never seen the film, but had heard about it for years. Its head-lining band was one that I grew up with, a 80’s oddity called Talking Heads. Not having thought of the film for years (hence me never renting it) and nearly forgetting the band, I found that there are many songs that I consider favorites from this band. Their songs have been present in modern films (A Civil Action closed with “Take Me to the River”), film advertising (the trailer for The Truman Show uniquely used “Once in a Lifetime”), and periodic radio play (“Life During Wartime” was the one that I had admittedly heard the most recently). The Talking Heads was more than just a fluke, but a credited band that is understated and this film does well in proving this.
Directed by Silence of the Lambs auteur Jonathan Demme, the film is a brilliant filming of David Byrne et al. in concert. I saw more energy in the ninety minute performance Byrne puts forth than I saw on the last Summer Olympics. The film begins with Byrne walking onto a bare stage with a boom box and guitar. He begins to perform “Psycho Killer” and the rest of the band is slowly brought onto the stage. Despite having eight other musicians on the stage, Byrne steals the show with his crazy antics and more than unusual apparel.
Demme has made the best of concert film without a doubt. Using shadows, projected slides, and never taking the camera off the stage until the end, he produces a viable motion picture out of something that most would say is a act you must see to enjoy. The filming is great and the music is great (with the exception of the awful Tom Tom Club song sans Byrne). The film is a treat and a promised addition to my video library.
