Stop Making Sense

Stop Making Sense ★★★★★

I'm resistant to concert films (and to concerts, for that matter) unless it's an artist I absolutely LOVE (or who puts on a visually dynamic show) because usually after a half-hour or so I start thinking: "OK, what else ya got? Oh, just that? More of that? All right."

But I'm glad that I, a casual Talking Heads fan at best, finally watched this, because it's really fantastic. The simple hook of starting with David Byrne alone and then adding personnel to the stage with each song gives it something like a "narrative." The sound is incredible. I was using headphones (AirPods™, actually), and each instrument and voice was clear and distinct and seemed to have a physical location. There's a part where the camera, behind the drummer and facing the audience, moves from one side of the stage to the other, and Byrne's voice travels from the right ear to the left. It's a very "you are there" sensation.

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