Stop making sense

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Movie
German title Stop making sense
Original title Stop making sense
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1984
length 88 minutes
Rod
Director Jonathan Demme
script Jonathan Demme , Talking Heads
production Gary Goetzman
music Talking heads
camera Jordan Cronenweth
cut Lisa Day
occupation

Stop Making Sense is a concert film of the Talking Heads , directed by Jonathan Demme . It was recorded on three evenings in 1983 during a promotional tour for the album Speaking in Tongues . The film was the first to be produced entirely with digital audio technology.

General

The film differs from other rock concert recordings in several ways

  • Up until the last song ( Crosseyed and Painless ) there is no direct record of the audience, it can only be seen in some close-ups and recordings from behind the stage. In the commentary on the DVD , David Byrne justified this with the fact that the audience should be able to form their own opinion on the performance of the band. Hopefully this should coincide with that of the audience shown at the end.
  • Byrne didn't want colored lights to illuminate the musicians. This resulted in some unusual lighting effects during the individual songs.
  • Byrne wanted as little "interference" as possible on stage. Water bottles weren't allowed, and most of the props were painted matte black to avoid reflections.

The opening credits use a style similar to Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strange . Pablo Ferro was the designer of the opening credits for both films . The film's trailer also plays on Dr. Strange at.

Course of the concert

Lead singer Byrne takes the stage with a tape recorder and an acoustic guitar and announces that he wants to play a tape. While it seems that the rhythmic accompaniment for Psycho Killer comes from this tape, it was actually played from a drum computer via the mixer .

Tina Weymouth , Chris Frantz and Jerry Harrison appear one after the other . The Talking Heads are then supported by other musicians: the background singers Ednah Holt and Lynn Mabry , the keyboardist Bernie Worrell , the drummer Steve Scales , and the guitarist Alex Weir . The first song played by all musicians is Burning Down The House . Byrne leaves the stage and the rest of the cast plays as Tom Tom Club song Genius Of Love .

Also of note is Byrne's "Big Suit", an absurdly oversized suit that he wears in the later part of the concert. This suit is inspired in part by the Japanese Nō theater and has become a trademark not just for Byrne but for the entire film.

Awards

In 1985, Stop Making Sense received the National Society of Film Critics' award for best documentary.

Reviews

  • Der Spiegel , 46/1984: Seemingly sober, without the usual intercuts to the cheering audience, without annoying backstage highlights and boring musician interviews, it brilliantly captures in picture and sound what is happening on stage.
  • Lexicon of international film : The live performance is captured sensitively, factually and without frills, but technically perfect. The band impresses with its extraordinary musical range, rousing dynamics and exuberant parodic humor. Recommended for friends of rock music.

Publications

The version of Once in a Lifetime from the film was released as a single and used in the opening credits of Zoff in Beverly Hills . In Europe, Slippery People was also very successful and appeared on a Greatest Hits album in 1991 .

For the first release on video , the songs I Zimbra , Big Business and Cities were restored and launched as a “Special Edition”. In the 1999 edition , these songs were no longer included. Later video and DVD releases contained them again in an unrestored version following the film.

In 2009 a "remastered" version in high definition (picture & sound) was released on Blu-ray .

Soundtrack album

The soundtrack album was originally released in 1984 and contained only 9 songs, some of which were heavily edited. In 1999 the album was released again, this time with all the songs and little post-processing.

Songs

  1. Psycho killer
  2. Heaven *
  3. Thank You for Sending Me an Angel *
  4. Found a job *
  5. Slippery People
  6. Burning down the house
  7. Life During Wartime
  8. Making Flippy Floppy *
  9. Swamp
  10. What a Day That Was (From The Catherine Wheel )
  11. This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) *
  12. Once in a Lifetime
  13. Genius of Love (from Tom Tom Club ) *
  14. Girlfriend Is Better
  15. Take me to the river
  16. Crosseyed and Painless *

(* Not included on the 1984 album.)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stop Making Sense. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed December 13, 2016 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used