Tag Archives: Stop Making Sense

This Must Be The Place (Merry Christmas)

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PPH is signing off for Christmas and will return shortly after with a full and frank multi-part roundup of the year’s cinematic highs and lows. I’ve already put together a 2011 Top 5 for Cinemart (a great site run by critic, blogger and all-round good guy Martyn Conterio) – you can check my choices out HERE.

So Merry Christmas everybody, and to see you in, here’s (for my money, at least) the high point of the greatest concert film there’s ever been. Talking Heads perform ‘This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)’ in Jonathan Demme’s 1984 masterpiece Stop Making Sense. It’s just beautiful. Enjoy:

David Byrne interviews himself

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Reading about David Byrne’s recent concert film Rise, Ride, Roar (in collaboration with Brian Eno) immediately inspired me to revisit the Talking Heads frontman’s cinematic past, which includes an array of soundtrack work (Wall Street, The Last Emperor) and directorial efforts such as 1986’s worthwhile True Stories.

His finest achievement in the world of film, however, will likely always be Stop Making Sense [aka the greatest concert film ever®] directed by The Silence of the Lambs’ Jonathan Demme. Check out this superbly odd promo clip of Talking Heads’ Byrne interviewing himself on the subject of the film while clad in a variety of strange, ever-changing guises. Despite all of its wilful archness and deliberately obtuse presentation, the segment is actually very revealing about Byrne’s view of the creative process, and showcases his off-kilter worldview and ability to self-deprecate at will.

Enjoy: