Cinema40 years later, Stop Making Sense proves that it is “a movie thing”Concert film by the band Talking Heads, directed by Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs), has been restored in 4K and is back in theaterstoday at 2:00 p.m.

1983, in Los Angeles, California. The band Talking Heads performs a series of four shows at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre to promote his new album, Speaking in Tongues.

The director Jonathan Demme — many years before he became an Oscar winner for The Silence of the Lambs1991 — is hired to film the tour, entitled Stop Making Senseand the result is one of the most prestigious concert films in the history of cinema.

Forty years later, the recording is remastered in 4K by A24 and returns to the big screen to remind fans of the work how special, cinematic and magical the show is, in addition to enchanting the eyes of a new generation of spectators, who will be able to witness what makes a “simple” filmed show a “movie thing”.

But, after all, what makes “Stop Making Sense” a “movie thing”?

There are several factors, from games and camera angles to image editing, including concern with mise-en-scène, which gives us a certain sense of perspective, among many others.

However, the biggest difference in Stop Making Sense and Jonathan Demmeeven though the filmmaker, at the time, had not yet worked on a project of such magnitude. The director captures the visceral energy of Talking Heads in a work that is far from being just a filmed show and makes the concert film the synthesis of filmmaking.

In the first few minutes of the show, Demme places us on stage, revealing its main star little by little, initially filming only the vocalist’s feet, David Byrnein a sequence up to the microphone, as he opens the night with Psycho Killerone of the most classic songs of Talking Heads.

The filmmaker then introduces the next members of the group, as if incorporating them into the narrative little by little. With each number, a new member joins the “story” and the viewer follows the montages as if they were witnessing the process of creating the scenery.

Every movement matters to the camera. Demme. Song after song, the director focuses on the novelty on the scene with a characteristic that is already particular to his cinema: the close upa classic movement of the seventh art, which can mean many things, depending on the owner of the camera. In Stop Making Sensethe filmmaker brings us closer to the artists in an attempt to elicit some reaction to what is presented on the screen.

Furthermore, unlike other films of this type, which have recently returned to the cinema through artists such as Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, Demme also makes a point of including the public and their reactions in Stop Making Sense.

It is interesting to note how those present, in front of the cameras, start off shy, sitting down, and as the show progresses, they get excited and stand up, dancing in their places, excited by the show Talking Headsas expected.

With the release of the remastered version of Stop Making SenseA24 had the same intention: to make us vibrate in our seats before an experience not only worthy of being seen in the cinema, but with all the qualities of a cinematic production, which takes us directly to 1983 and that night at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre, as only the magic of cinema is capable of doing.

What was the best movie of 2024 so far? Vote for your favorite!

• The Snow Society
• Anatomy of a Fall
• Everyone But You
• Poor Creatures
• The Boy and the Heron
• Dune: Part 2
• All of Us Strangers
• Godzilla and Kong: The New Empire
• Civil War
• Inside Out 2
• Bandit: Number One
• Deadpool & Wolverine
• This is how it ends
• Trap
• Alien: Romulus
• Types of Kindness
• Motel Destino
• Blink Twice
• The Raven
• Longlegs: Deadly Bond