Stop Making Sense (1984)
Stop Making Sense (1984) is a concert movie featuring Talking Heads live on stage. Directed by Jonathan Demme, it was shot over the course of three nights at Hollywood’s Pantages Theater in December 1983, as the group was touring to promote their new album Speaking in Tongues. The movie is notable for being the first made entirely using digital audio techniques. The film has been hailed by Leonard Maltin as “one of the greatest rock movies ever made”, and Pauline Kael of The New Yorker described it as “…close to perfection.”
David Byrne walks onto the stage and does a solo of “Psycho Killer.” Jerry Harrison, Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz join him for two more songs. The crew is busy, still setting up. Then, three more musicians and two back-up singers join the band. Everybody sings, plays, harmonizes, dances, and runs. They change instruments and clothes. Byrne appears in the Big Suit. The backdrop is often black, but sometimes it displays words, images, or children’s drawings. The band cooks for 18 songs, the lyrics are clear, the house rocks.
Stop Making Sense is widely regarded as one of the finest examples of the concert movie genre. Leonard Maltin rated the film four stars out of four, describing it as “brilliantly conceived, shot, edited and performed” and “one of the greatest rock movies ever made.” Roger Ebert gave the film a three-and-a-half star rating, writing that “the overwelming impression throughout Stop Making Sense is of enormous energy, of life being lived at a joyous high… It’s a live show with elements of Metropolis…But the film’s peak moments come through Byrne’s simple physical presence. He jogs in place with his sidemen; he runs around the stage; he seems so happy to be alive and making music…He serves as a reminder of how sour and weary and strung-out many rock bands have become.”
Come to the Arcata Theatre Lounge and Stop Making Sense.
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