Stop Making Sense
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Movie Reviews of Stop Making Sense
Movie Review: David Byrne & Jonathan Demme, A Match Made In Heaven
Summary: 5 Stars
I am not much of a rock music fan but seeing this extraordinary concert film of the Talking Heads in performance in 1983, when it first came out, sent me rushing to the record stores where I bought every CD of the Talking Heads ever made! The two most significant people behind this event were David Byrne, the front man and composer for the group, and director Jonathan Demme, who would go on and on to ever bigger heights in the film industry. Byrne crafted some of the most amazing offbeat lyrics with music of vast appeal to those who see themselves as Outsiders. Additionally, the numbers are all sung by the one person capable of delivering these strange new sounds: himself. Byrne also has extraordinary stage presence, which hits its crowning moment when he appears in the "Big Suit," a huge suit made by his then girlfriend and now wife, Adele. If Byrne were a visual artist instead (and he was when he was studying at the Rhode Island School of Design where he met the rest of the band), you would call his work Absurdist and Minimalistic. He makes it all work and with Demme filming the show, it is all caught perfectly. There are other fans who appreciate the other Talking Heads (3 members of the band) as much but it always seemed to me that there were many other musicians who could have filled their shoes. Byrne has continued to grow as a musician and a composer in the years since the band broke up. He quit the rock scene as a younger man's game and went on to compose soundtracks and then expand into other musical genres as well, including Latin music.Movie Review: Thrilling and Entertaining Concert Film
Summary: 5 Stars
It may seem peculiar that Amazon users have rated Jonathon Demme's concert film featuring the Talking Heads higher than Schindler's List, Casablanca, Gone with the Wind, and The Godfather, but I dare you to watch Stop Making Sense and not bestow accolades on it; whether a fan of the band or not, whether a fan of the music style or not, you will be hard-pressed not to come away from this film unimpressed.
Other reviews have talked about the structure of the preformance, or the manic stage-presence of lead singer David Byrne, or the reluctantness of the director to focus on anything but the band. All are good points, and certainly add to the movie's appeal, but I was more impressed with the music and high-energy of the Talking Heads themselves. Although several years later the band would split, the performers in the film seem merely overjoyed to be on a band on a stage- making music and being cheered on by fans. The musicans, from the guitairists to drummers to backup dancers, throw themselves into the music with a relentless zeal- with sweat dripping down their faces as they do dances which would seem ridiculous in any other band. This energy and enthusiasm turn decent songs into great ones, making one want to watch the video over and over again, if only to see David Byrne run a lap around the stage to the tune of Life During Wartime.
Well worth your money. 10/10
Movie Review: I was NOT a Talking Heads fan. But I am now.
Summary: 5 Stars
Director Jonathan Demme's STOP MAKING SENSE, listed by Entertainment Weekly as one of the Essential Independent Films when they produced that list years ago, has been called, by others, the greatest rock concert films of all time. Better than THE LAST WALTZ. Better than WOODSTOCK.After seeing it, not really knowing much about the quirky, catchy pop music of David Byrne and his brood, the band and the film won me over. The film starts, like the concert, with a bare stage. David Byrne walks out, alone, with his guitar and a radio. Within moments of beginning "Psycho Killer," Byrne's tripping all over the stage, falling all over himself, stumbling into the edges of the film frame. With that, he begins to show some individual, I-am-not-a-rock-star personality. When the staging does come, when the band joins in the fun, that personality expands.
And when it comes time for the giant suit, this film's more than just a concert. It's become a story. The story of the band, the story in the lyrics and a commentary on how abstract visual art and obscure, obtuse music can interact.
Demme never shows the audience through the film, though you can hear them, for the film is just about the band, the stage. It's not about the reaction they get.
It's fascinating, and you'll find yourself a fan of Byrne's music, as a result.
Movie Review: Burning down your house...
Summary: 5 Stars
Buy this DVD... go straight to "Song Selection" from the opening menu... click on Track 6, "Burning Down the House"... turn up the volume, sit back and prepare to be amazed. Quite simply one of the most brilliant pieces of live music ever recorded - speaker-bendingly good, superbly filmed and, above all, conceived & staged to be about as far away as you can get from a simple "pop video". Is it music or art?... who cares, because this cut on its own will tell you that your money's been well spent.
And there's more... "Life During Wartime" comes in only marginally behind for pure excitement and "Girlfriend is Better" - with its ridiculously effective "big suit" sequence - runs both tracks an equally close third. Absolutely classic "live" recordings and the adrenalin fuelled highlights of one of the best concerts you're ever likely to see. Building from simple beginnings, its 16 track sequence is, as the cover says, "The Citizen Kane of concert movies" - a reference point for how to make live music a creative audio & visual experience while, on the way, capturing a group at the peak of their powers. Not only one of the best music DVDs on offer but right up there as one of the most exciting and indispensable moments in rock.
Movie Review: If you aren't a fan now, you soon will be...
Summary: 5 Stars
This is, without a doubt, the greatest concert video ever created. I was only a casual Talking Heads fan, that is until I saw this movie and it destroyed by brain. I couldn't believe how incredible this DVD is.
Quickly, without giving away too much: The concert starts with David Byrne and a boombox with a cassette of a drum beat. He strums his acoustic guitar with the tape to "Psycho Killer" (It takes balls to open with your best known song). Eventually, the other members come out to play along, one at a time, gradually building the set and musicians in the same way that a movie is built. ONce the entire band is onstage, the set picks up with the more complex Talking Heads catalog, and all of the songs are FLAWLESS.
Another great thing, is that you never see the audience until the last minute and a half or so. This was done on purpose so that the viewer never feels like the movie is telling him/her that he/she should enjoy it becuase the audience is. You get the band and the songs, and that is more than enough.
Aside from the great commentary, there are some fun extras, such as David Byrne interviewing himself as different characters. Just right the right amount of bizarre!