Widely hailed as the greatest concert movie ever made, director Jonathan Demme’s celebrated film captures Talking Heads live at Hollywood’s Pantages Theatre in December 1983.
Building from an image of a single pair of white sneakers into a sublime, almost surreal display of cerebral rock, the greatness of the film isn’t down to the understated direction of Jonathan Demme or the subtle photography of Blade Runner (1982) cameraman Jordan Cronenweth.
What makes this such a memorable experience is the ingenuity of Talking Heads frontman David Byrne.
In addition to writing and giving a mesmerising performance of the 16 songs on the soundtrack, he also designed the show, which includes some wonderfully atmospheric shadow mime sequences, played out on a triptych screen behind the minimalist stage.
David Byrne
Chris Frantz
Jerry Harrison
Tina Weymouth
Director
Jonathan Demme
