FILM FRENZY

David Byrne in Stop Making Sense (Photo: A24)

By Matt Brunson

STOP MAKING SENSE (1984)
★★★★ (out of four)
DIRECTED BY Jonathan Demme
STARS David Byrne, Bernie Worrell

The greatest concert film of all time has been brought back for a special encore.

Stop Making Sense, now back in theaters (including IMAX venues), finds the critical darlings Talking Heads jamming their way through a 16-song set that includes “Psycho Killer,” “Burning’ Down the House,” and “Once in a Lifetime.” A rock orgy of volcanic power, this basically changed our perception of what we could reasonably expect from a concert movie, as director Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs) and cinematographer Jordan Cronenweth (Blade Runner) shoot in an inventive style that goes far beyond front-row-center. And at the nucleus is head Headsman David Byrne, a human dynamo who meshes the inexhaustible performing stamina of Bruce Springsteen in his prime with the rubber-limbed capabilities of a Warner Bros. cartoon character.

Stop Making Sense was released in 1984 — a great year for movies, by the way (go here to read all about it) — so why is distributor A24 stating that 2023 marks its 40th anniversary? Simple: While the movie didn’t hit theaters until 1984, the actual concert was filmed over several nights at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre in December 1983.

Byrne wasn’t through meshing movies and music, as (among other achievements) he wrote, directed, scored, and starred in 1986’s True Stories and shared the Best Original Score Academy Award with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Cong Su for 1987’s The Last Emperor. And 2020 witnessed the release of David Byrne’s American Utopia, director Spike Lee’s filmization of the Broadway hit that had opened in October 2019. Like Stop Making Sense before it, David Byrne’s American Utopia garnered rave reviews, and it made my own 10 Best Films list for 2020 (go here). Who knows, maybe there will be a 40th anniversary theatrical re-release of that picture in 2060 … or 2059.