Dir. Jonathon Demme/USA /1984/88mins

30 years ago, in 1984, a then (relatively) unknown director named Jonathan Demme (yet to win an Oscar for 1991’s Silence of the Lambs) was left feeling burnt out and dismayed by a production that should have been his supposed ‘breakthrough’ (1984’s Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn-starring Swing Shift). He then plunged into a non-feature project, a live stage show envisioned by Talking Heads frontman David Byrne to promote the group’s latest album Speaking in Tongues.

Shot over three nights at the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles the film eschews convention throughout. Keen to avoid the quick, flashy MTV cut-heavy styles of the day Byrne and Demme opted for elongated, wide-angle shots focusing heavily on the performances themselves and almost ignoring the audience entirely. So keen was Byrne to keep the film free from distraction and complication that he had his band dress like inmates, universally clad in a dull grey, he painted much of the set a matte black to avoid reflections from lights, covered up amps, obscured brands of instruments, didn’t allow water bottles on stage and even painted the usually silver ends of the group’s Shure SM58 microphones black. By stripping down to the bare essentials and beyond, Stop Making Sense allows the rudimentary and the simplistic to flourish, magnifying the creativity and performances on display and allowing the intense energy to carry the film because if that doesn’t, there is nothing else left that can. Heavily choreographed dance moves often dictate the film’s rhythm and aesthetic, creating performances that are vibrant, energetic and constantly engrossing.

In 2009 the film celebrated its 25th anniversary with a Blu-Ray release, bringing about a series of critical reappraisals that, a quarter of a century on, came to the same conclusion that they did back in ’84: it remains one of the greatest, most idiosyncratic concert films of al time. In 2014 it turns 30 and still remains so as it gets a very rare outing on a public big screen.

“Has there ever been a live concert film as vibrant or as brilliantly realised? I don’t think so.” – San Francisco Chronicle

“‘Stop Making Sense’ is close to perfection. – The New Yorker  

“Greatest concert movie ever…” – Rolling Stone

“This is a rock concert film that looks and sounds like no other.”  – The New York Times 

Tickets are £10 on the door.