Spike Lee’s film David Byrne: American Utopia follows Byrne’s eponymous Broadway production and tour

David Byrne and Spike Lee –  two iconic artists whose creative cooperation is a guarantee of success. 

Spike Lee is an American director, scrfeenwriter and producer, known by films dealing with social, racial and ogther themes. This film of his, David Byrne’s American Utopia, is yet another film that offers his typical comments on the society. the film focuses on the suited 68-year-old artist David Byrne, the former frontman of  The Talking Heads. 

Byrne’s album American Utopia (2018) was followed by a Broadway production of the same name, in which Byrne replaced many songs with the classic Talking Heads songs, ending the whole thing with The Best Live Show Of All Time – his live performance. Spike Lee shot Byrne’s spectacle on the stage and this is how two legendary artists started their cooperation.

There are 12 barefooted musicians on the stage, all of them in gray suits. No one is sitting. They are holding all of their instruments in their hands. Other than them, the stage is bare. The focus is on choreography and music, sending its message and radiating its faith in mankind. Between the songs, Byrne talks to the audience, tackling important subjects, commenting on his songs and placing them in various context, while urging for resistance against injustice and social divisions.

Spike Lee is shooting all this. The spectacle on gthe stage, the costumes, the choreography, the lights, the way he uses his camera… all this stirs rhythm in the viewers. Great music, great visual effects, important political messages and jokes – this film has it all.

You can see it in Cinema Billy on Wednesday at 11:30 pm.