Artist, writer, director, and former Talking Head David Byrne takes to the stage to deliver a timely call for social betterment. In a Spike Lee joint, the multi-hyphenate Byrne presents art and musical theatrics on Broadway that echo much-needed sentiments of hope and better tomorrows. Whilst Byrne will be forever attached to The Talking Heads’ and Jonathan Demme’s critically acclaimed live-music film Stop Making Sense, American Utopiais brilliant and unique in its own right. Spike Lee lends his directing expertise as the concert covers a range of social issues including the Black Lives Matter movement.
The set is ambitious and dynamic, placing both its audience in the auditorium and the audience at home together into its intimate perspective of Byrne’s inner sociopolitical voice. A balance is struck between industrial greys, sleek suits, barefoot dancing, and avant-garde performative gestures, allowing a more clean and uncluttered platform for Byrne’s message. What was a world tour has become a well-oiled Broadway production for the pandemic age, which the film acknowledges when the attending audience is thanked for leaving their homes. Lee’s experience and keen eye for visuals are present throughout as we open from above looking down on Byrne, sitting patiently with his model of a brain, ready to begin. Soon, we are eye to eye with the man himself, as the stage rises and the wall of beads shimmers around him.