STOP MAKING SENSE: 4 ½ STARS. “Watch it again for the first time.”
The 4K restoration of the four-decade old concert movie “Stop Making Sense” is such an exercise in joyful exuberance it’s like time travelling back to the actual 1983 show.
Directed by Jonathan Demme, and shot over the course of three nights at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre at the culmination of the band’s “Speaking in Tongues” tour, the film begins on a bare stage as the camera follows David Byrne’s scuffed-up sneakers to center stage. Placing a portable tape player at his feet, he says, “Hi, I got a tape I wanna play,” and launches into the jittery “Psycho Killer,” accompanied only by his acoustic guitar and boombox beats.
Next comes bassist Tina Weymouth for a beautiful, stripped-down version of “Heaven,” the band’s pokerfaced view of paradise, a “place where nothing ever happens.”
As the track list expands, so does the show. Piece by piece, member by member, equipment and musicians populate the stage, until the full band, Byrne, Weymouth, Jerry Harrison, Chris Frantz, Steve Scales, Lynn Mabry, Ednah Holt, Alex Weir and Bernie Worrell are in place, and playing as if making music was going to be declared illegal the next day.
From the exhilarating art-funk of “Burning Down the House” and “Life During Wartime” to the melancholic beauty of “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)” and the gospel tinged “Once in a Lifetime,” the band deliver one banger after another, fronted by Byrne’s athletic and arty dance moves. It’s a document of a band working at the top of their game, capturing the love of music and performance in a way few other concert films have.
And it’s got a good beat and you can dance to it.
The restoration is top notch, with a sharp image derived from the original 35-millimeter negatives, showcasing cinematographer Jordan Cronenweth’s inventive camera and lighting work, and crisp remixed digital sound that fills the air.
The picture and sound are improvements on the original, but the thing that hasn’t changed, the element that makes the movie special, is the performance. From Byrne’s iconic “Big Suit” to Weymouth’s crab-walk dance, it is, as Ed Sullivan would’ve said, a really big show, but it manages to feel intimate, even when blown up to IMAX supersize. The nonverbal communication between the players and the obvious love of the music, are highlighted, and add much to the overall experience.
“Stop Making Sense” tells a loose narrative, from the opening number with a solo Byrne, to the “formation” of the band and their subsequent collaboration. By the time they sing “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody),” it is clear this group of outsiders has found a place where they belong. Not a documentary, or an exercise in nostalgia, “Stop Making Sense” is a celebration, of music and of belonging. Watch it again for the first time.
