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Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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Critic Consensus: No consensus yet.
All Critics (19) | Top Critics (1) | Fresh (14) | Rotten (5) | DVD (2)
This is not a musical. It's a bold attempt to paint a bizarre American landscape. This movie does what some painters try to do: It recasts ordinary images into strange new shapes.
The best parts are, not surprisingly, the ample musical interludes. The character vignettes run hot and cold, with many registering as little more than quirky caricatures.
True Stories was a film that was in dire need of resuscitating in HD, and in the process of doing so, Criterion has put out one of their most creative sets to date, aptly matching the eccentric register of Byrne's masterpiece.
An exuberant and wonderfully oddball stew of deadpan comedy, character drama, music video, and art installation.
Quirky David Byrne-helmed musical is all-ages appropriate.
Byrne has made his version of Our Town for the 1980s, a glorification of commonplace--and kitch--and the resilient, inventive spirit of ordinary Americans wherever they are.
A very quirky but not unkind take on American life that's Byrnian through and through.
Absolutely amazing. If there is such a thing as the perfect American movie, this certainly comes close.
good soundtrack, but smothered by a condescending attitude
If this was even half as hip and smart as it thinks, it'd be a classic.
The bottom line is that Byrne and company offer us nothing more than another patronizing view of small-town America.
Post-modern pastiche on the then-hip American West; fun, strange, and distinctly a product of its time.
True Stories is a heartwarming, genuine, sometimes abstract look at the change taking place in Texas (and US in general) during the mid-1980's. David Byrne plays himself (sort of) as the narrator who looks upon the fictional town of Virgil and its odd inhabitants with a sort of child-like wonder as they prepare for their "celebration of specialness" anniversary celebration. Incorporating music from their album of the same name the Talking Heads (Byrne mostly) take us on a wondrously bittersweet adventure that weaves through the extraordinarily ordinary lives of Virgil's town folk. More than just a snapshot of the particular time and place this film captures the essence of American optimism, those intangible dreams and vapid pursuits that we are so fortunate to be able to undertake.
Super Reviewer
A quirky, comic and insightful look at "Americana" through the eyes of one of the musical geniuses of our lifetime, Mr. David Byrne. Sountrack by Talking Heads. What more could you ask for?
Quirky is right! Some of it rings of truth. I liked the songs about watching too much television, corporate religions and the kids in a suburban wasteland. The family dinner table communication rituals were bizarre. There is some nice imagery about American oblivion. I felt empty after watching a society so bent, but was never bored. Michael Moore and Christopher Guest probably drew some inspiration from some of this.
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