The eponymous Broadway show is filmed in concert documentary form. The show includes songs of Byrne's career including his time spent with the Talking Heads. Byrne appears onstage with eleven other performers who sing, dance, and play instruments.
The songs are very well performed and enjoyable to watch. And while the camera choices by Spike Lee are inspiring, there is a point between the middle and the end where it feels like one can feel confined in the same space for too long (the film is one and three-quarters hours long). However, the finale is truly amazing not only for the show's conclusion but also what happens later.
Some moments of sanctimonious politics don't help the show despite the good intentions. At one point, Byrne speaks against a tyranny that ended over three-quarters of a century ago. It's sometimes baffling why some American liberals in the entertainment industry deliberately avoid speaking against current tyrannies like that of the Chinese Communist Party - a tyranny that has existed for more than seven decades - while speaking about past injustices instead. While speaking out against past injustices is fair, it comes off as pretentious if it avoids what is current and relevant. Might this be because of the mass amounts of money from China that finance some Hollywood film productions? This paragraph would not likely be written if "American Utopia" were not following a trend often found in self-righteous speechifying that has been a problem in many entertainment awards shows for the last three years or so - all the while deliberately and conveniently ignoring other injustices - the ones unlikely to be considered as "cool" and career-advancing to call out.
Regardless, the film has many fine moments.
The songs are very well performed and enjoyable to watch. And while the camera choices by Spike Lee are inspiring, there is a point between the middle and the end where it feels like one can feel confined in the same space for too long (the film is one and three-quarters hours long). However, the finale is truly amazing not only for the show's conclusion but also what happens later.
Some moments of sanctimonious politics don't help the show despite the good intentions. At one point, Byrne speaks against a tyranny that ended over three-quarters of a century ago. It's sometimes baffling why some American liberals in the entertainment industry deliberately avoid speaking against current tyrannies like that of the Chinese Communist Party - a tyranny that has existed for more than seven decades - while speaking about past injustices instead. While speaking out against past injustices is fair, it comes off as pretentious if it avoids what is current and relevant. Might this be because of the mass amounts of money from China that finance some Hollywood film productions? This paragraph would not likely be written if "American Utopia" were not following a trend often found in self-righteous speechifying that has been a problem in many entertainment awards shows for the last three years or so - all the while deliberately and conveniently ignoring other injustices - the ones unlikely to be considered as "cool" and career-advancing to call out.
Regardless, the film has many fine moments.