CinemaNerdz

Movie Review: Stop Making Sense

Mike Tyrkus
"Stop Making Sense" (A24)

"Stop Making Sense" (A24)

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.

The initial screening of the film at the Sundance Film Festival was accompanied by a Q&A session with the Talking Heads (David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth, and Jerry Harrison) moderated by Spike Lee that you can watch here!

Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com
An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.
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