Movie Review: Stop Making Sense
What We Liked
What We Didn't Like
Considered by many critics to be the greatest concert film ever made, Stop Making Sense recently enjoyed its fortieth anniversary, prompting a reissue of the film – directed by the late Jonathan Demme – after a picture and audio restoration that leaves little doubt as to the validity of the claims of the piece being the best concert film of all time.
The concert captured here was shot over three December nights in 1983 at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre and features the core members of The Talking Heads – David Byrne, Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz, and Jerry Harrison – alongside additional musicians Bernie Worrell, Alex Weir, Steve Scales, Lynn Mabry, and Edna Holt performing many of the band’s most memorable songs.
For those that haven’t seen the film yet, it begins with Byrne walking to the center of an empty stage with an acoustic guitar and a tape player. He then begins the performance, pressing play on the player and launching into a solo rendition of “Psycho Killer.” Then, as the performance moves forward, members of the band walk onstage as new songs are launched into, until the full band is assembled. Simultaneously, the set and scaffolds the band performs on are constructed onstage by the backstage crew. This makes the performance and production of that performance one in the same.
Throughout it all, director Demme embraces the frenetic action of the concert and allows the film to unfold as organically as the band’s performance seems to (though it is certainly a well-rehearsed one). In short, this is a concert film that feels more energetic than a typical filmed performance and that (along with the music of course), is precisely what makes Stop Making Sense so poignant, even forty years after its initial release.
Mike Tyrkus
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