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True Stories (1986)

True Stories (1986)

An American small town holds strange stories in this weird yet charming musical satire

7.0

Movie

United States of America
English, Portuguese, Spanish
Comedy, Music
1986
DAVID BYRNE
Annie McEnroe, David Byrne, Jo Harvey Allen
89 min

TLDR

David Byrne, why didn't you direct more films?

What it's about

The fictional town of Virgil, Texas are gearing up for their 150th anniversary, and as they do so, a cowboy-hat wearing, cherry-red drop-top car cruising narrator introduces the strange and musical residents there.

The take

When artists or musical bands make films, it’s usually a tour documentary or a biopic of some sort, where fans can go in depth with their music, their background, or anything that would explain what makes their music so great. When Talking Heads’ lead vocalist David Byrne made a film, it wasn’t about his hometown in Maryland or his birthplace in Scotland at all– Instead, it was about True Stories, compiling a series of vignettes in a fictional North Texan town. It’s a strange choice, but Byrne manages to capture the bizarre in ordinary small town America, that can get a bit surreal, but nonetheless holds a weird charm that’s excellently scored by the band. True Stories came out of nowhere, but it’s a decent watch.

What stands out

The music, of course.

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