‘Stop Making Sense’ remains a perfect concert film

If one didn't know better, one might be persuaded the 1984 concert documentary "Stop Making Sense" was made more recently, because the eclectic music of Talking Heads and the fluid filmmaking of director Jonathan Demme feel as fresh as anything being made now.

Demme's death on April 26, at age 73, is affording the Tower Theatre a chance to revive this modern-classic movie, easily the best concert movie ever made, and a lasting document of the power of art and music.

"I've got a tape I want to play," David Byrne tells the audience at L.A.'s Pantages Theatre, where three performances were filmed to capture Talking Heads' 1983 "Speaking in Tongues" tour. Byrne sets down his boom box on an empty stage and presses a button, and a staccato rhythm (actually produced by a drum machine at the sound board) kicks up, to which Byrne adds the guitar and vocals for his spare, haunting "Psycho Killer."

We then see the stage assembled, a bit at a time, with a new band member added with each song. Bassist Tina Weymouth joins Byrne for the dreamy ballad "Heaven." Another platform is rolled out, and drummer Chris Frantz sits down at the kit to launch the rocking "Thank You for Sending Me an Angel." Next comes guitarist Jerry Harrison, and the band plays the jagged "Found a Job."

Once the band's original foursome is in place, the other musicians — percussionist Steve Scales, guitarist Alex Weir, backup singers Ednah Holt and Lynn Mabry, and the movie's secret weapon, Parliament-Funkadelic keyboardist Bernie Worrell (who died last June) — gradually join in. They add an energizing funk stomp to Talking Heads' nerdy lyrics and spur a boyish enthusiasm in Byrne, whose loose-limbed dance moves during such songs as "Slippery People" and "Life During Wartime" match the music's happy vibe.

Then there are the visuals, designed by Byrne to expand the possibilities of a live concert. There are the triptych slides with random words in all-caps Helvetica (e.g.: "digital / babies / dustballs"). There's the lamp with which Byrne evokes home in the romantic "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)." And there's the famous giant suit that dwarfs Byrne's body during the propulsive "Girlfriend Is Better" (which includes the "stop making sense" lyric that provides the movie's title).

Avoiding any behind-the-scenes moments, Demme and cinematographer Jordan Cronenweth capture the music and the performance perfectly. They opt for long takes of the performers, Byrne especially, with very little cross-cutting. This restraint must have been difficult, especially at the height of the MTV era, when rapid-fire music videos — even Talking Heads' videos, for such songs as "Once in a Lifetime" and "Burning Down the House" — were destroying attention spans across America.

Watching "Stop Making Sense" today, it's striking how timely Talking Heads' anxiety-driven songs are. When Byrne sings "Our president's crazy / did you hear what he said?" (in "Making Flippy Floppy"), it takes a moment to process that he was referencing Ronald Reagan, not the current White House occupant. And "Crosseyed and Painless," with its machine-gun burst of lyrics ("facts are simple and facts are straight / facts are lazy and facts are late / facts all come with points of view / facts don't do what I want them to"), could be the theme song for our post-truth world.

Finally, "Stop Making Sense" shows one of Demme's greatest gifts as a director: to not impose his will on the material, but to give the material room to find its own shape. The result is a true collaboration between filmmaker and musicians that brings out the best from both.

movies@sltrib.com

—

HHHH

'Stop Making Sense'

The landmark 1984 concert movie, catching Talking Heads at the height of its talents, returns to pay tribute to the late director Jonathan Demme.

Where • Tower Theatre.

When • Opens Friday, May 5.

Rating • Not rated, but probably PG for some mature lyrics.

Running time • 88 minutes.