Does anybody have any questions?
A review of Jonathan Demme's Stop Making Sense
“Well, if the curtain opened and everything was there, there would be nowhere to go.”
A pair of nondescript white sneakers and grey tailored pants walk into frame. “I got a tape I wanna play”, announces a voice while a boombox is set on the floor.
What happens during the next hour and a half is nothing short of magical. Clad in a grey suit with an acoustic guitar in hand, David Byrne starts alone on the stage. There is no backdrop or scenario, only himself and a very well lit stage. The curtains are already up when the show starts. Slowly, song by song, the setting starts to take shape. First, bassist Tina Weymouth joins in and as she performs the second the song with Byrne, the stage continues to be set and a drum kit is added. They are joined by Weymouth’s husband, drummer Chris Frantz, and, finally, by the last member of the band, Jerry Harrison. The visible scaffolding, normally hidden from the eyes of the audience, starts to become invisible. Even as the band is complete, stagehands still walk about adding more instruments and more musicians join the band. Each part of the stage is added like an ingredient to a well crafted recipe. Only by the sixth song, “Burning Down the House” the setting is complete and all the pieces are in place. From there on to the final song, each performance is a unique experience, as if going through a multiple course meal at a Michelin starred restaurant.
From the first chord in the stripped down version of “Psycho Killer”, performed only by Byrne and a drum machine, to the final moments of “Crossyed and Painless” as the cameras point to the audience for the first time, each song performed in “Stop Making Sense” tells a different part of a story. In more ways than one, it does not feel like watching a concert, but instead a theatrical performance split into scenes and acts. As soon as the boombox is set on the floor, it becomes clear that this isn’t only about listening to music. The audience is rarely seen or heard. There is no focus on musicians fingers or on the chords they are playing, or even dramatic pans or dollies during solos, as one would expect in a conventional concert film. Instead, the viewer is presented with a single lampshade dimly lighting a few of the band members lined up on stage, bassist Tina Weymouth’s feet tiptoeing while she dances, a whole song showing nothing more than David Byrne’s face in close-up, multiple shots of the stage crew, or even guitarist Alex Weir grimacing while his hands slide down the neck of his guitar
The grainy texture of the celluloid denounces that we are watching a film, as do the close-ups and unusual angles to this format that only a director with such finesse and sensibility as Jonathan Demme could capture. In an approach that resonates with modern documentary filming, the cameras invite the viewer to experience the music as the band intended it to be — with one’s whole body. The setlist doesn’t matter as much as how much a song will make you want to dance, whether it is a hit such as “Burning Down the House”; a song from one of Byrne’s solo works; or a track from the Tom Tom Club, Weymouth and Frantz’s side project. What is captured on screen are not individual performances of a band playing songs meant to be seen and heard to a crowd of people.
These songs, as is the nature of sound, are physical.
Whether it be by Byrne dancing awkwardly in the famous big suit, or running around the stage while the rest of the band runs in place, the performances challenge the viewers to remain still in their seats. These songs and their performances are meant to be felt with every sense in the human body.
While this is all beautifully shot and mesmerizing and while the cultural importance and influence of the Talking Heads, specially on modern music, what may be the most impressive feat of this film is how it manages to capture every person on stage having fun. Every dance move and every smile shows it. More than watching one of the 20th Century’s most influential bands perform at the height of their career, we are watching several very talented individuals having the time of their lives.
This article was originally written as an assignment for the Cultural Studies course at the English Language and Literature Undergraduate Program at Universidade de São Paulo in December of 2024.
