CinemaStop Making Sense: 5 reasons to watch the new version of the Talking Heads filmThe feature film directed by Jonathan Demme has been remastered in 4K and hits Brazilian cinemas this Thursday, the 29th, through O2 Playtoday at 5:00 pm

David Byrne enters the stage, which barely seems prepared to receive him, carrying only a guitar and “Psycho Killer” on the tip of his tongue. Little by little, the other members of Talking Heads — Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz and Jerry Harrison — and the guests Bernie Worrell, Alex Weir, Steve Scales, Lynn Mabry and Edna Holt join Byrne with different instruments.

What seemed like a school presentation becomes a real show, with lights, sounds and performances that lift the audience from their seats. The newly released Speaking in Tongues (1983) guided the 1983 tour, which was also permeated by compositions from his solo career. Byrne and the band Tom Tom Clubof Weymouth and Frantz.

Stop Making Sensedirected by Jonathan Demmeis back in theaters — this time remastered in 4K — thanks to O2 Playwhich distributes production in Brazil, and A24which re-released the film internationally.

Find out below why watching a film that is almost half a century old could be a good idea.

IMAX and 4K

The IMAX screening offers a very similar scenario to that seen in Stop Making Sensewhere the attention of the spectators in the audience is focused on the stage. Scenes in which giant cameras are shown being held by men and cuts in which the audience is revealed wearing clothes and hairstyles typical of the 1980s bring moviegoers back to reality.

The film will be available in all 12 IMAX theaters in Brazil from Thursday, September 29th, until Wednesday, September 4th. Buy your ticket here.

The perfect show

Like the Silencio club, from City of Dreams (2001), warned, not everything is what it seems. Recorded over three nights of shows at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre in 1983, Stop Making Sense It is a montage with fragments of different presentations. It is possible to notice that, at certain moments, the images do not correspond to the sounds of the film.

In live performances, musicians have had to start a track over so a band member could find the right rhythm; someone gave an uncomfortable look to a member who wasn’t playing correctly; a song wasn’t played exactly like the studio version; artists slipped on stage; the audience didn’t react as expected; technical problems shortened the setlist…

In the film of Demmehowever, the best attempts of the Talking Heads were concentrated into a single performance — which resulted in a seemingly perfect show. Therefore, the performance shown in Stop Making Sense can only be watched this way: transformed into a movie.

Riding the wave of concert films

Insatiable fans of Taylor Swift were treated to a concert film from the singer’s ongoing tour at the end of last year. Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour turned movie theaters into stadiums where the owner of the hit “Anti-Hero” performed. Katy Perry revealed behind the scenes of his shows and his relationship with Russell Brand in Katy Perry: Part of Me (2012), while Michael Jackson’s This Is It (2009) broke box office records.

Before the pop world took over the genre, the Pink Floyd had released a concert film recorded in Pompeii. Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii (1972) shows the band, about to give The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) to the world, performing in an empty amphitheater except for the film crew. But in 1947, the guitarist Yehudi Menuhin was already the protagonist of his own concert film: Concert Magic (1951). The U2 also wants to join the trend and should release a feature film with performances at the Sphere arena, in Las Vegas, in September.

In the middle of the road, it is Stop Making Sense. The cinematic choices of Demme privileged and immersed themselves in the style of Talking Headseven without showing behind the scenes or interrupting the show with testimonials. For a filmmaker, directing people who are not trained actors may seem like a complex task. However, Demme gave the impression that he was born to lead a band on stage — even with The Silence of the Lambs (1991) on his resume — and raised the bar for concert films.

Movie Fan Card

THE O2 Play created the Cinéfilo Card: an application that brings together the releases of the Brazilian distributor and offers benefits, such as access to ticket pre-sales, for example. When watching a film distributed by O2 on the big screen, moviegoers can still receive a numbered collectible card. So far, there are three: Perfect Days, Crossed Paths and Stop Making Sense.

Talking Heads is over

Stop Making Sense depicts the height of the Talking Headswhen the group produced the hit “Burning Down the House” and achieved commercial success.

Shortly thereafter, in 1991, Byrne left the band without leaving a message. Frantz and Weymouth learned of the singer’s departure through an article in Los Angeles Times and tried to take the Talking Heads forward, until they are stopped by the singer.

“I would say it’s not the Talking Headsthey would say it is, but without the vocalist… They are different things, and I think it should have a different name”, he argued Byrne in an interview with Rolling Stone USA in 1999.

In 1996, the remaining members released No Talking Just Headunder the name The Heads and with the help of several vocalists.

THE Talking Heads would only return to the stage with the original formation in 2002, when they played at Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Byrne expressed regret for the way he left the band, but gave no signs of a reunion in the near future. “I have regrets about how I handled it. I don’t think I handled it in the best way, but I think it was inevitable,” he said in an interview with People in 2023 (via Los Angeles Times). “We have a cordial relationship now. We’re kind of in touch, but we don’t hang out.”