Blu-Ray Review: Jonathan Demme’s ‘Stop Making Sense’ With The Talking Heads

CHICAGO – The Talking Heads hold such an important place in the development of my musical taste (and director Jonathan Demme in my film taste), that I find it more difficult than usual to critically appraise the 25th Anniversary release of “Stop Making Sense” on Blu-Ray. Even with my personal love for everything related to the film aside, “Stop Making Sense” has held up remarkably well, still standing as one of the best concert films ever made.

Blu-Ray Rating: 5.0/5.0

Designed by Demme and David Byrne, “Stop Making Sense” is more than an average concert film. Not only is it directed by a man who would later win an Oscar for his craft (for “Silence of the Lambs”), making it a more visually accomplished piece than say the latest Nickelback concert video, but it is conceptually brilliant and features some of the best music of its day.

Stop Making Sense was released on Blu-Ray on October 13th, 2009.
Photo credit: Palm Pictures

The idea behind “Stop Making Sense” is simple - it’s a concert that’s built before your eyes. The film opens with one light on a stage that’s soon filled by the white shoes of Talking Heads lead singer David Byrne. With no backdrop and little lighting, he steps to a mic and begins a drum loop on a tape (which a commentary reveals wasn’t actually on tape but looped from back stage). With just a guitar and the drum loop, he performs “Psycho Killer”. The next song, “Heaven,” features the inclusion of the bass. “Thank You For Sending Me An Angel” brings in the drums. By the time the set list gets to the halfway point, there are background singers, multiple instruments, and an entire set. Then the music simply speaks for itself.

With massive hits like “Burning Down the House,” “Life During Wartime,” “Once in a Lifetime,” “Girlfriend is Better,” and “Take Me to the River,” “Stop Making Sense” features The Talking Heads at their absolute peak. It’s what an amazing concert film should be - a snapshot of a band at the top of their game.

And the Blu-Ray for “Stop Making Sense” perfectly captures this perfect film. The video, remastered in 1080p from a 35mm interpositive, is the best-looking concert film from its era that I’ve seen in HD. And the audio is even better with three mixes - DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Feature Film, DTS-HD Master Audio Studio Mix, and 2.0 Stereo Mix. The film looks and sounds amazing. Flip between the feature and two bonus tracks that haven’t been remastered to see how much better the HD version looks and sounds than it ever has before.

The bonus tracks are “Cities” and “Big Business/I Zimbra”. Other special features include a never-before-seen one hour press conference Q&A with the full band, filmed at the theatrical rerelease in April 1999, a bonus audio commentary by all four band members and Demme, a storyboard-to-film comparison, a video short called “David Byrne Interviews…David Byrne,” and more.

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com