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chapter11 [ 9.5 ]
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Inhabits the debatable space between film as narrative and film as art. "Stop Making Sense," if you choose to subscribe to the school of thought that states that film should be intended as art, and not solely entertainment or storytelling, is a fantastic film; if you think that a film has to have a screenplay and a set of concrete characters to be considered a film, "Stop Making Sense" is simply a fantastic concert. There's no traditional narrative (like the later Talking Heads film "True Stories") - although it's fascinating to watch the stage evolve throughout the concert, to see how one singer with a guitar becomes a titanic funk-rock extravaganza. The band members enter the stage one by one - as Heads singer David Byrne puts it, because (bad paraphrase) "if you start out with the stage all set up, where do you go from there?" The performances are like exuberant, incendiary vignettes; the film, too, is deftly directed, future "Silence of the Lambs" director Jonathan Demme's camerawork feeling less like a run-of-the-mill concert recording and more of a musical documentary .. it's all heightened by the fact that, besides being ridiculously talented, the Talking Heads are an extremely visual band. The stage isn't turned into a big production number a la "Zooropa"-era U2, but instead David Byrne's pop-eyed watchability and amusing choreography make up the visual stimuli. This is a fantastic film - in a league, as far as rock-and-roll filmmaking goes, with "Woodstock" and Scorcese's "The Last Waltz".
Of course, there's the little nagging detail that if you don't like the Talking Heads, neither I or this film is likely to convert you. However, anyone new to the Heads with any sort of propensity for fandom will find this (or the concert recording of this, available on special-edition CD) an invaluable primer for arguably one of the best and most interesting bands of the past 20 years.
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reptltd [ 8.0 ]
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I must say that David Byrne is one great frontman. Just watching him sing and "dance" while playing and singing was just enjoyable and enthralling. I also liked how the concert grew from just him playing along to a tape (much like early They Might Be Giants) to a large band. It seemed like everyone was having a whole lot of fun and David Byrne seemed like a man possessed (in a good way). His spasms and facial expression are definately the highlight of the movie. The only criticism I can have is that from having reading things about the movie, I expected the stage to evolve even more, but the whole setup is pretty much there halfway through the film. But that's about all I can complain about. The performances were excellent (I loved how everyone, and I mean everyone, was dancing through the whole concert) and it was just fun to watch.
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| Weighted Rating | : 7.6 |
| No. Ratings | : 9 | |
| No. Reviews | : 5 | |
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