Note: I normally don't do Summer Concert Series posts outside of summer. However, since this film has been rereleased to movie theaters recently and I just saw it there earlier today, I felt it was the right time to make this post.
Stop Making Sense has been referred to as one of the best concert films ever made. When you watch the movie, it is very easy to understand why.
Few concert films have ever so perfectly captured a band at their artistic peak. I feel that one of the best ways to determine if a concert film is a great movie is if you can picture someone who has never heard of the band or singer before, leaving as a fan. This is perfectly the case when it comes to Stop Making Sense. The Talking Heads have never sounded better than they do here. In fact, the movie versions of some of the songs here sound even better than the studio recordings. Even if you aren't normally a rock and roll fan, it is hard to find your foot moving to the sound of the music. The Talking Heads not only sound great here, but they are a lot of fun to watch. When you watch David Byrne's boundless energy on stage, Tina Weymouth's wonderful stage presence (especially when she takes over lead vocals on Genius of Love) or the sheer amount of fun backing singers (Lynn Mabry, Ednah Holt) are having it is hard not to be caught up in the pure energy.
The movie also has a wonderful start as David Byrne is alone on stage with his acoustic guitar (and a portable cassette player) playing and singing Psycho Killer. The next song (Heaven) finds Tina Weymouth joining him on stage. With the next few songs more and more members of The Talking Heads will join them on stage, with various equipment being hauled out as the musicians are playing to accommodate. By the film's sixth song (the top 10 hit, Burning Down the House) the whole band is on stage. This is not only excellent showmanship, but it also makes this movie feel more cinematic because like a good fictional film, it keeps building upon itself with each new scene (or song).
Though one may think that directing a concert film is an easy job, where all the director has to do is point a camera at the performers, it is well worth noting that the best concert films are by great directors (think of Martin Scorsese with The Last Waltz (1978) or D. A. Pennebaker with Monterey Pop (1968)). This movie has a very acclaimed director at the helm, Jonathan Demme. This is the filmmaker that caused no less than Paul Thomas Anderson to say his three favorite filmmakers were "Jonathan Demme, Jonathan Demme and Jonathan Demme." Some of this great director's films include Swing Shift (1984), Married to the Mob (1988), The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and Philadelphia (1993). His other concert films include Neil Young: Heart of Gold (2006) and Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids (2016). His direction in Stop Making Sense is perfect. This is not one of those static concert films where the camera remains static. Instead, this is a very cinematic concert film. Yet the camera never moves simply to have the camera move. Instead, it feels like just as natural part of the concert as the music itself. There are times when the camera follows the performers making us feel like we are on stage with them. There are other times when the camera can stay still in beautiful shots that capture the whole stage (these moments need to be seen on a movie screen to be fully appreciated). However, the music always seems to determine what the camera does. Because of this it enhances the performance instead of distracting from it. It adds to the pure energy and fun of the movie.
This is one of those movies that can be equally appreciated as cinematic art and as entertainment. This may be a concert film, but it is something that many aspiring filmmakers could learn from studying and those who look at cinema as a great art form can be amazed by. At the same time, it can simply be enjoyed by those who simply want to hear good music. A must see.
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