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Bloated Pussy
Jun 9, 2002

dont read my posts
Directed by: David Byrne
Starring: David Byrne, John Goodman

True Stories is a mainly plotless movie that follows Talking Head's singer David Byrne as he meets oddball characters in the fictional town of Virgil, Texas. Almost all of the characters we're introduced to are charming or funny in one way or another, which keeps the movie interesting in spite of its lack of story. Unfortunately at times it can begin to crawl, and I felt movie began to drag during its last third.

For a movie made in the middle of the 80's, True Stories has a lot of insightful commentary on corporations, urban architecture, and consumerism. At the time it must've been like getting a peek into the 90's.

My favorite character in this movie is David Byrne -- his narration is by far my favorite element of the movie, and his quiet innocence makes him the most endearing person in the film. He looks sort of uncomfortable in front of the camera, and his slow, paused delivery style keeps you hanging on his words. The movie often shifts between a regular style and documentary style (in some scenes characters speak to the camera, in others the numerous angles and wideshots indicate a shift to a standard, removed viewpoint). I enjoyed the movie the most when Byrne is talking directly to the people, listening to their words, and providing the occasional question.

At times John Goodman seems kind of lost, I'm sure he was as confused about the movie as most viewers are. He does an all right job, but in a few scenes you can almost feel that just before the camera started rolling he was like "Ok, what's going on this scene?"...

When it's not being obviously absurd and weird -- the fashion show, the church -- there's a subtle oddity running through the film ... it's just like your city, but not quite. I read somewhere that there's over 50 sets of twins in the movie (after I'd watched it) and it only adds to the underlying weirdness of Virgil, TX.

RATING: 4.0

PROS: Byrne's role is great; tons of funny characters; subtle and over-the-top humor and weirdness
CONS: Largely plotless; wanders at times; not enough David Byrne!

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092117/

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CloseFriend
Aug 21, 2002

Un malheur ne vient jamais seul.
David Byrne has said before that even he doesn't understand his songs, his music, or his art. True Stories seems to offer an interesting look in his head. For instance, Byrne has said in the past that he writes songs by doing the instruments, using gibberish for the melody, then replacing it with lyrics as he writes them. We see John Goodman's character halfway through this process. The movie is clearly Byrne's singular vision, and probably a beginning symptom of his increasing dismissiveness of his bandmates that culminated in their split five years later.

The non-musical majority this movie seems to be made from looking through Weekly World News, pulling random stuff out, and making characters out of it. Along the way, the songs that become the album True Stories are presented here, but performed by the characters. Byrne certainly knows how to pick talent: Spalding Gray, Pops Staples, John Goodman (who is a better singer than you think), and his own band all get musical numbers. One of the most interesting musical numbers came from Anne McEnroe, a "seen her around" actress. The musical segments are all very cool, in a weird 80s sort of way.

However, I'm going to give this movie a less-than-stellar rating, and here's why. For me, no matter how artful or colorful or creative a movie may be, the most important attribute a movie can have is making the viewer want to keep watching. Frankly, I found everything in this movie except the music boring. I think it's the presentation and the production design. I just felt like the characters and I were both sitting around waiting for the next big scene.

While it's admirable that Byrne clearly put a lot of work into this project, and there are some great musical numbers here, the simple truth is that the movie bored me, and that's really what's going to determine whether I'll want to watch it again.

2/5

JDCorley
Jun 28, 2004

Elminster don't surf
It's funny how you can agree with a negative review completely and still have a positive view of a movie. CloseFriend's criticisms of True Stories are right on target. Nothing much is happening in this movie, and it's perfectly happy to take its time not happening. A car parks at the mall. Some workers set up a stage in a field. There's a commercial on TV. To me, though, these little bits of nothing make True Stories, instead of a fast-moving absurd comedy with David Byrne lectures in it into a pleasant soap bubble of glistening nonsense. Intentionally bad production values in some areas collide with bizarre production decisions in others - did you notice that there were over thirty pairs of twins in this movie? At some point you did...

Like noticing all the twins, True Stories will reward repeated viewing. John Goodman is highly likeable, David Byrne and Spalding Grey are awkwardly engaging, and the world presented is weird, but never in-your-face about it. The movies True Stories reminds me most of is the classic French series of comedies about M. Hulot. Nothing much happens in a Hulot movie and the characters never experience an emotion more wild than befuddlement. Still, I could watch them over and over.

4/5.

Spiceman Spliff
Nov 18, 2002

I did indeed feel that True Stories was a "completely cool, multi-purpose movie" as the box art would lead one to believe, although I am the only person that I have shown this movie to that seems to feel that way. While there is a good deal of comfortable elitism inherent in the above statement, and while the film is far more artsy than most, I think you'll only really appreciate it if you like David Byrne and/or Talking Heads.

The main draw of this movie seems to be Byrne's excellent, poignant narration, and the smattering of Talking Heads tracks contained within, including the excellent yet embarrasingly out of place "Wild Wild Life" kareoke bar lip-synch scene and dated, yet still relevant commercial commentary of "Love for Sale."

Aside from the Byrne/Heads draw of the movie, it also featured a bunch of cameos from others within the musical world, inspired a certain band's name with the "Radio Head" song, and I would hope did a bunch for John Goodman's career prior to Roseanne.

True Stories was a clear marker of the beginning of the end for Talking Heads, which may be its greatest legacy. Byrne pretty much went solo with this movie, which apparently was only greenlighted if Talking Heads did the soundtrack, which was mediocre compared to the rest of their work, and apparently was one reason why fans tuned out for the Heads subsequent, and last, work: Naked.

I give it 4/5, as a fan of both Byrne's work and the work of Talking Heads.

If you like neither, you will probably give it 2/5 unless you are the artsy type or particularly enjoy Reagan-era time capsules.

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