I gave this my first-ever 10-star IMDB review, it was that good. I was smiling endlessly and even clapped after some songs. It's that good. If you thought "Stop Making Sense" was a film pinnacle Byrne would never top--he did. It's that good.
Caveat: if you don't like Talking Heads or Byrne solo, this probably won't change your mind. Or maybe it will.
The whole concept of making the musicians mobile (all of them can move around, none of them are seated, and they take their instruments with them) opens up endless possibilities visually and Byrne captures endless ones.
The band is just insanely good-every song has a furious percussive backbeat which makes this all work, most notably on "Once in a LIfetime". Yes, there are PLENTY of Talking Heads songs here to keep fans happy.
But pretty much everything works, the spoken parts (which are few) are funny and/or thoughtful and the staging/lighting is striking. Spike Lee, who directed, does a great job of not overdoing it with fancy angles or flashy edits, so he gets mad props here too. And the sound mix is AWESOME, one of the best I've ever heard for a concert film.
Everything about this is great. Best thing I've seen from Broadway since Hamilton. But it really *is* more of a concert than a musical.
Caveat: if you don't like Talking Heads or Byrne solo, this probably won't change your mind. Or maybe it will.
The whole concept of making the musicians mobile (all of them can move around, none of them are seated, and they take their instruments with them) opens up endless possibilities visually and Byrne captures endless ones.
The band is just insanely good-every song has a furious percussive backbeat which makes this all work, most notably on "Once in a LIfetime". Yes, there are PLENTY of Talking Heads songs here to keep fans happy.
But pretty much everything works, the spoken parts (which are few) are funny and/or thoughtful and the staging/lighting is striking. Spike Lee, who directed, does a great job of not overdoing it with fancy angles or flashy edits, so he gets mad props here too. And the sound mix is AWESOME, one of the best I've ever heard for a concert film.
Everything about this is great. Best thing I've seen from Broadway since Hamilton. But it really *is* more of a concert than a musical.