Stop Making Sense: Difference between revisions

'''''Stop Making Sense''''' is a concert film released by [[Talking Heads]] in 1984, directed by [[Jonathan Demme]]. It was shot over four nights at Hollywood's [[Pantages Theatre]] in December 1983 at the end of the American leg of the [[Speaking in Tongues Tour|tour]] for ''[[Speaking in Tongues]]''. ''Stop Making Sense'' includes performances of songs from each Talking Heads album so far, as well as some songs from 1981 side projects [[The Catherine Wheel]] and [[Tom Tom Club (album)]].

Lead singer [[David Byrne]] walks on to a bare stage with a portable [[cassette tape]] player and an acoustic guitar. He introduces ''[[Psycho Killer]]'' by saying he wants to play a tape, but in reality a [[Roland TR-808]] drum machine starts playing from the [[mixing board]]. The gunshot-like beats cause Byrne to stagger "like [[Wikipedia:Jean-Paul Belmondo]] in the final minutes of ''[[Breathless (1960 film)|Breathless]]'', a hero succumbing, surprised, to violence that he'd thought he was prepared for."

The film includes Byrne's "[[Big Suit|big suit]]", an absurdly large business suit that he wears for the song''[[Girlfriend Is Better]]''. The suit was partly inspired by [[Wikipedia:Noh]] theatre styles, and became an icon not only of the film – as it appears on the movie poster, for instance – but of Byrne himself. Byrne said: "I was in Japan in between tours and I was checking out traditional Japanese theater – [[Wikipedia:Kabuki]], Noh, [[Wikipedia:Bunraku]] – and I was wondering what to wear on our upcoming tour. A fashion designer friend (Jurgen Lehl) said in his typically droll manner, 'Well, David, everything is bigger on stage.' He was referring to gestures and all that, but I applied the idea to a businessman's suit." [[Wikipedia:Pauline Kael]] stated in her review: "When he comes on wearing a boxlike 'big suit' – his body lost inside this form that sticks out around him like the costumes in Noh plays, or like [[Wikipedia:Beuys]]' large suit of felt that hangs off a wall – it's a perfect psychological fit." On the DVD he gives his reasoning behind the suit: "I wanted my head to appear smaller and the easiest way to do that was to make my body bigger, because music is very physical and often the body understands it before the head."

| writer15      = [[Al Green]], [[Wikipedia: Mabon "Teenie" Hodges]]

| writer18      = [[Al Green]], [[Wikipedia:Mabon "Teenie" Hodges]]

When the film was first released on home video, the songs ''[[Cities]]''and ''[[Big Business / I Zimbra]]'' were restored to the performance, thus forming what was dubbed the "special edition" of the film. For the 1999 re-release, these songs were no longer included in sequence with the rest of the footage. It and subsequent video and DVD releases have placed these songs after the film in an unrestored full-frame version.

The studio sought out as much of the original materials as possible for the restoration, but quickly learned after already announcing the release that the original [[Negative (photography)|negative]] for the film was missing: prior distributors simply scanned preexisting screening prints of the film, including for the previous 1999 re-release. After an extensive search, the original negative for the film was found in an [[Wikipedia:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM]] film vault, despite MGM not having been involved in the making of the film. Similarly, Eric Thorgren and Talking Heads member Jerry Harrison planned to create new [[Dolby Atmos]] sound mixes, initially using materials from the previous distributor and [[Rhino Entertainment|Rhino Records]]. However, they ran into difficulty when they discovered they did not have the original audience tracks: the original audio was stored in the library of [[Wikipedia:Todd-AO]], which had since gone out of business and its building demolished. Eventually, it was discovered that Todd-AO's collection was claimed by [[Wikipedia:Sony]], who transported it to a warehouse in Kansas, where the original audio tracks were found in time to be included in the restoration. Using these original tracks, as well as the post-production overdubs originally overseen by Demme to fix mistakes in the film's recording, Thorgren and Harrison painstakingly remastered the film's sound.

The studio premiered the new restoration on September 11, 2023, in 4K on [[Wikipedia:IMAX]] at the [[2023 Toronto International Film Festival]], followed by a Q&A hosted by [[Spike Lee]] with Byrne, Weymouth, Frantz and Harrison in attendance, reuniting the group for the first time since their induction into the [[Rock and Roll Hall of Fame]] in 2002. A24 has also released a 4K Collector's Edition. The home video release includes an extended cut overseen by the members of Talking Heads, with the performances of ''[[Cities]]'' and ''[[Big Business / I Zimbra]]'': the original negatives had been lost, but new edits were compiled using the restored footage from the cameras, including unseen footage. Jonathan Demme's own extended cut featuring the missing songs, originally released on VHS and LaserDisc, is also included.

On review aggregator [[Wikipedia:Rotten Tomatoes]], ''Stop Making Sense'' holds an [[Wikipedia:List of films with a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes|approval rating of 100%]] based on 66 reviews, with an average rating of 9.3/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Jonathan Demme's ''Stop Making Sense'' captures the energetic, unpredictable live act of peak Talking Heads with colour and visual wit". It won the [[Wikipedia:National Society of Film Critics]] Award for best non-fiction film in 1984.

The film is widely regarded as one of the finest concert films ever made. [[Wikipedia:Leonard Maltin]] gave it four out of four, describing it as "brilliantly conceived, shot, edited and performed" and "one of the greatest rock movies ever made." [[Roger Ebert]] gave the film a three-and-a-half star rating, writing that "the {{sic|overwelming}} impression throughout ''Stop Making Sense'' is of enormous energy, of life being lived at a joyous high...It's a live show with elements of ''[[Wikipedia:Metropolis (1927 film)|Metropolis]]''...But the film's peak moments come through Byrne's simple physical presence. He jogs in place with his sidemen; he runs around the stage; he seems so happy to be alive and making music...He serves as a reminder of how sour and weary and strung-out many rock bands have become."

''Stop Making Sense'' is regularly screened as a cult film in [[Wikipedia:revival house]]s throughout the world. [[Wikipedia:The Astor Theatre, Melbourne|The Astor Theatre]] in Melbourne, Australia has made a tradition of playing it as part of a "Stop Making Sense Dance Party" every January since 2016. Dancing and audience participation is encouraged, with many turning up in costume and bringing props.