Stop Making Sense
Jonathan Demme’s 1984 film documenting Talking Heads’ three night stand at the Hollywood Pantages is one of the great concert films of all time. Thanks to Heads frontman David Byrne’s ingenious staging, the film works in a narrative vein as well, beginning with Byrne alone on the stage fidgeting through the schizo rhythms of Psycho Killer and ending with the introverted singer transformed into a total party animal, speed-jogging around the stage to Life During Wartime. Demme’s direction is simple yet elegant and the camera always seems to be in exactly the right place. One of the most joyful movies ever made, be sure to see (and hear) it with a proper sound system.
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About Allan Arkush
A record collector and film buff from birth, Allan Arkush brought his two loves together in directing the cult classic Rock ‘n’ Roll High School. Back in the day Allan was directing and executive producing television series like Heroes, and Crossing Jordan. He has also directed episodes of Ally McBeal, Moonlighting, St. Elsewhere, Fame, A Series of Unfortunate Events and TV Movies like Elvis Meets Nixon and Shake Rattle & Rock as well as the mini-series, The Temptations, for which he won an Emmy. He used to have a lost film, Get Crazy, but Kino/Lorber found it in time for Christmas 2021. His day job is teaching Film production & history at the AFI.