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American Utopia Underscores an Awesome World: TIFF Review

Photo: Courtesy of TIFF
Photo: Courtesy of TIFF

Can you hear the music? That’s the pulse-pounding soul and ferocity of David Byrne’s American Utopia. And the utopia this concert imagines is maybe the best concert film ever made. More so, it’s a revelation in what the synthesis of music and film can be.

That underscoring sounds new because Byrne has reinvented his message and style for a modern world in an urgent crisis. But it’s told with such hope that, like he sings in ‘Burning Down the House’ and unlike America’s fading hopefulness, “maybe you know where you are.”

Spike Lee’s concert film of the 2019 Broadway production is a masterful capture of music and ideology on a stage. It’s amplified further by Byrne himself and an 11-piece band that has every theatrical talent imaginable.

Yet Lee is no stranger to filming the Broadway experience, especially as a documentary - he directed the film of Mike Tyson’s one man show Undisputed Truth in summer 2012. Here, his attention to detail matches the beauty and scale of Byrne’s vision for the show.

Byrne himself is a revelation as both artist and philosopher. He thinks just as intently as he sings, dances, speaks, plays a number of instruments or tells jokes. The synthesis of all these things happening at once to suggest the titular Utopia that America could be is the source of the concert’s magic.

At first, it’s just David posing questions about our own connections and the way we learn to think. But soon, more join him on stage - the band grows larger, and with every song more people stand from their seats in the theatre to dance and clap along.

Within half an hour, the whole theatre is standing. And it’s pretty hard not to get sucked in yourself. (I made it about an hour into the show before, inexplicably, I found myself dancing in my living room with the film still going on the TV.)

His two principal dancers Chris Giarmo and Tendayi Kuumba are incredible. The moves they perform with the synchronization they do is reminiscent of Byrne’s technique 40 years in the making. They often steal the show, and deservedly so.

The choreography feels more special than I could understand from one viewing. There are more shapes, symbols and connections that I look forward to discovering on repeat viewings.

If you’re a fan of Talking Heads, there too are influences from David’s early career. It’s hard to imagine his song “Once in a Lifetime” celebrating its 40th anniversary this year - but look closely and you’ll find traces of that 1980 music video’s choreography in both the band and by Byrne himself.

Another memorable scene, “I Should Watch TV”, reflects the way modern people learn, including as the blessings and curse of television as a medium. (It’s more ironic given this year’s digital TIFF festival, and it’s the first of 57 movies I’m seeing within the next week and a half.)

But it culminates in a rousing, climactic “requiem” as Byrne calls it, staged with the power and audacity as only Lee could put on camera. “Hell You Talmbout”, written by Janelle Monae, is the big showstopper, and its the only time Lee edits anything else into the show other than the concert itself.

Lee was the perfect choice of a director for the film. He capitalized on the details expansive and specific that Byrne infused into the show, and he points the camera exactly where in the theatre we need to pay attention. 

Sometimes it’s the performers, sometimes it’s one member of the ensemble. Sometimes it’s the lights, set, and instrument, and occasionally, it’s even the audience. Yes, even they become a character in their own right.

This was a great choice for the opening night film - it’s a call for connection, patience and joy. These are the qualities that define a world of inclusion and prosperity, with love for all people. If that’s not the message we need to broadcast to the whole world, I don’t know what is.

But Byrne says it much better than I do. “Us and You - that’s what the show is,” he says. Hear his call for the Utopia within our reach. 

David Byrne’s American Utopia

10 out of 10

1hr 45mins. Musical.

Directed by Spike Lee.

Starring David Byrne.

Streaming on TIFF’s Bell Digital Cinema on Wednesday September 16th, with tickets available online here. General Release on October 17, 2020 on HBO.

This review is part of Oakville News 12-part series covering the 45th Toronto International Film Festival. Read here about watching all 57 movies at this year’s TIFF.

A full list of reviews from all movies at TIFF so far can be read here.

Read more reviews and entertainment news @MrTyCollins on Facebook and Twitter.