1294 David Byrne’s American Utopia

[domino harvey]

David Byrne meets America’s fractious political moment with the transcendent power of song in this ecstatic documentary of the Broadway adaptation of his acclaimed American Utopia tour. Captured with immersive immediacy by director Spike Lee, this uplifting spectacle interweaves twenty-one songs, both new and classic, with Byrne’s singular observations on the state of the nation—its perils, promises, and possibility for transformation. Choreographed by Annie-B Parson with the inventive minimalism that has become a signature of Byrne’s live performances, David Byrne’s American Utopia moves between moments of communal exuberance and hymnlike grace, making the case for music as an agent of protest, change, and above all unity.

4K digital master, supervised by director of photography Ellen Kuras, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
One 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
New documentary featuring Kuras, musician-producer David Byrne, dancer-vocalist Tendayi Kuumba, director Spike Lee, choreographer and musical stager Annie-B Parson, lighting designer Rob Sinclair, and bassist Bobby Wooten III
Trailer
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing and English descriptive audio
PLUS: An essay by critic K. Austin Collins and an appreciation by critic Jia Tolentino

New cover based on a collage by Annie-B Parson


FILM INFO

United States
2020
106 minutes
1.85:1
English
Spine #1294

[beamish14]

Wow. I hope this leads to more of Lee’s stage works getting 4K releases, such as Passing Strange and John Leguizamo’s Freak

[hearthesilence]

I actually saw this when it ran on Broadway, and the film does justice to it. If anything, it's even more polished in execution - they don't change anything, but they likely edited it to get the best performance possible, right down to smoothing out the spoken word interludes.

Quite a few critics brought up this show when reviewing his new album, pointing it out as a turning point where his solo work was finally gaining favor, but it's a strange argument to make when most of the show is dedicated to songs by the Talking Heads, something Chris Frantz pointed out in his recent book.

[dda1996a]

Meh, this isn't half as good as Stop Making Sense.
I had the pleasure of catching a festival run of the live show (i.e it's a bit shorter) which was truly transcendent.
The film never managed to capture that or the spirit of the Demme film

[pistolwink]

I watched 20 minutes of this and I was reminded of Jonathan Rosenbaum's description of watching All About My Mother: "it felt like a good many weeks at a politically correct summer camp" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[ryannichols7]

personally think this show is proof that Talking Heads really need to give it another go, Byrne always seems to me like he's performing in the shadow of Stop Making Sense. I enjoyed the one time I saw him live (on the Songs of Brian Eno and David Byrne tour) but something is very evidently missing with his shows, although it's certainly not his talent

Byrne's stoicness could stand to be matched with the looseness of Jerry Harrison and Adrian Belew's shows celebrating that material. I salivate thinking of Belew being on good enough terms with the band in order to be part of a Talking Heads comeback, but that's really getting ahead of myself

[reaky]

Going by Chris Frantz’s book Remain in Love, the only band with longer odds of reuniting is The Smiths.

[pianocrash]

It was already clear by Little Creatures that the Heads were becoming the David Byrne show, and it always has seemed like he's constantly remaking Naked over & over again as the years go on (Tropicalia years be damned). Cocaine & egos are a hell of a combination, but boy, did these guys ever do it. The blandness of American Utopia reminded me of the "Road To Nowhere" scene in Reality Bites, but we all, collectively, have become the punchline.

Wow. I hope this leads to more of Lee’s stage works getting 4K releases, such as Passing Strange and John Leguizamo’s Freak

Both shows are wonderful, but neither are starring David Byrne (or Jim Jarmusch, for that matter), so even an Eclipse set would probably be asking for too much.

[hearthesilence]

I never had a chance to see Talking Heads, so if they reunited for shows, I would absolutely go see them, but to be brutally honest, it's also way too late - a full-fledged reunion would add nothing to their legacy and I don't hold it against Byrne if they never do. Frantz and Weymouth never believed the band should have ended, and they're very unhappy that Byrne has squandered "missed opportunities" like collaborating with them again for reasons big and small. (As mentioned, the American Utopia show was heavily reliant on Talking Heads songs, and Frantz voiced his displeasure that SNL brought Byrne back for a performance this year and not the Talking Heads even though it was to perform one of their songs.)

But they're also so much older now. Even Byrne isn't immune to age - he cancelled (or postponed) the first show of this tour because his voice had problems and there were still audible signs of that when the tour commenced a bit later. Tina was in a terrible car wreck several years ago, and she does look more frail in her public appearances since then. Chris is clearly a much older guy - not bad for his age, but clearly physically older, and Jerry is now 76. As mentioned, he just did a fine tour with Belew (which I attended), but it wasn't too intensive either - it doesn't matter who you are, when you get to be that old, touring only gets harder and harder. I'll support whatever work they put out, but people should let go of any pie-eyed dreams of what a reunion would be like because there wouldn't be much reason to expect nostalgia. (I should add, a big reason why Byrne's recent tours even work as well as they do is because they're packed with young people in their physical prime - vocals aside, they're doing at least 90% of the heavy lifting in terms of physical activity, from the musical performances to the dancing. Even Harrison and Belew's tour relied heavily on younger collaborators.)

[Roger Ryan]

The aged Talking Heads could probably handle a tour similar to the "Fear of Music" tour of 1979 (the only time I saw them). A bare stage with only white bank lights and the four members stood nearly motionless during the entire performance! The Talking Heads shows that everyone talks about are the significantly more elaborate ones with additional musicians that culminated in Demme's Stop Making Sense but that was for a relatively brief period of time (three years? four years?).

[beamish14]

The aged Talking Heads could probably handle a tour similar to the "Fear of Music" tour of 1979 (the only time I saw them). A bare stage with only white bank lights and the four members stood nearly motionless during the entire performance! The Talking Heads shows that everyone talks about are the significantly more elaborate ones with additional musicians that culminated in Demme's Stop Making Sense but that was for a relatively brief period of time (three years? four years?).

It was less than two years, I thought. Basically the Speaking in Tongues era. They subsequently never toured again.

Had they played Live Aid, things could’ve been very different

[Roger Ryan]

The aged Talking Heads could probably handle a tour similar to the "Fear of Music" tour of 1979 (the only time I saw them). A bare stage with only white bank lights and the four members stood nearly motionless during the entire performance! The Talking Heads shows that everyone talks about are the significantly more elaborate ones with additional musicians that culminated in Demme's Stop Making Sense but that was for a relatively brief period of time (three years? four years?).

It was less than two years, I thought. Basically the Speaking in Tongues era. They subsequently never toured again.

Had they played Live Aid, things could’ve been very different

I would include the “Remain in Light” tour as well as representing the more confident, more dynamic band that audiences remember fondly. Looking up the tour dates, that era lasted from August 1980 to February 1984. Although I agree that the “Speaking in Tongues” period is the apogee of this and that lasted about six months!

[hearthesilence]

There is a December 18, 1980 concert in Rome that was professionally videotaped and cut together for Italian television - arguably the best recording of a single Talking Heads concert ever, it's become very popular among fans and collectors thanks to YouTube, and Chris Frantz raved about it when he belatedly found it in recent years. One reason why it's so special is that it captures Adrian Belew's time with the band - it's very nearly the Stop Making Sense band but Belew is still the lead guitarist. (When Belew left to join Robert Fripp's new configuration of King Crimson, Alex Weir replaced him.)

[zedz]

I never had a chance to see Talking Heads, so if they reunited for shows, I would absolutely go see them, but to be brutally honest, it's also way too late - a full-fledged reunion would add nothing to their legacy and I don't hold it against Byrne if they never do.

Having just seen Byrne on his latest tour, I just can't see what appeal a reunion would have for him. He's having a ball with his much younger troupe, and delivering a fantastic show of a kind that his former bandmates simply couldn't be a part of at this stage. His current show is definitely in the spirit of Talking Heads at their theatrical peak in a way that a reformed Talking Heads simply wouldn't be at this point. There's more to concert-going than ticking the "yes, I saw this legendary band when they were kinda crappy" box.

Though it's nice to think that Byrne's reason for forgoing a reunion might now be "I'm having too much fun" rather than "I can't stand to be in the same room as those guys."

[DimitriL]

The only thing that makes me sad is that I think the Talking Heads crew might have followed Byrne wherever he wanted to go. I remember Weymouth discussing how after the painful experience of True Stories for her, the making of Naked was the most fun they ever had on a Talking Heads project and they loved being part of that expanded ensemble. But I don't hold it against Byrne, and as you say, what he's got going now is so infectiously fun. It looks like he's walking on air whenever he performs with his new collaborators.

[hearthesilence]

I've seen Byrne on tour a few times, and they're great shows, but the accomplishments are tilted towards musical theater rather than the great funk ensemble that's memorably seen in Stop Making Sense (which made the Broadway residency pretty logical), thoroughly choreographed spectacles performed by a young and talented cast. They're also heavy on decades-old Talking Heads songs, and to be brutally honest, it emphasizes how spotty and frustrating his solo career has been since the Talking Heads' (tbf uneven) True Stories. I'm sure you could probably cobble together a good and enjoyable CD of highlights from the past 37 years, but it would still be a small fraction of his musical output which says a lot. (His latest album has some merit, but it's also marred by a chirpy sunniness that's too much for my tastes.)

Meanwhile, Jerry Harrison and Adrian Belew just toured behind the Talking Heads' greatest album, Remain in Light, similarly backed by a young and talented group, except this is much more like a rock show rather than a spectacle - the emphasis is on instrumental chops expanding and reinterpreting the music night after night rather than re-enacting carefully choreographed set pieces, and Harrison and Belew's instrumental prowess are clearly on display (as are those of their ensemble). A different type of show than Byrne's, but every bit as satisfying and maybe even moreso depending on one's inclinations. (Both tours are over, but if there was a one-off tomorrow night and I could only go to one, it would be Harrison and Belew's.)

[Noiretirc]

So...no Talking, just Head then? (Sorry.)

I wonder what Mr Byrne thinks about this other enterprise?

[zedz]

So...no Talking, just Head then? (Sorry.)

I wonder what Mr Byrne thinks about this other enterprise?

You're exactly thirty years too late with that joke.

[Noiretirc]

(That was my point of reference, yes.)

[Matt]

The only thing that makes me sad is that I think the Talking Heads crew might have followed Byrne wherever he wanted to go. I remember Weymouth discussing how after the painful experience of True Stories for her, the making of Naked was the most fun they ever had on a Talking Heads project and they loved being part of that expanded ensemble. But I don't hold it against Byrne, and as you say, what he's got going now is so infectiously fun. It looks like he's walking on air whenever he performs with his new collaborators.

I wonder if some part of the success of his new shows is due to him being able to tell everybody exactly what to do without pushback. That would never be the case with the band.

[DimitriL]

I wonder if some part of the success of his new shows is due to him being able to tell everybody exactly what to do without pushback. That would never be the case with the band.

I'm sure that's part of it. Also, I think he's just much more comfortable in his own skin than he used to be.