Review: David Byrne's American Utopia

Image courtesy of Amazon.

Spike Lee's "David Byrne's American Utopia" starts off as an energetic concert film featuring the legendary Talking Heads frontman, and ends up as something else - a deeper, cathartic exploration of human connection at a time when it feels the divide in our country has grown wider. Byrne recognizes this, and tackles it head on throughout his show.

Byrne wrote the album "American Utopia" two years ago with Brian Eno, and it ended up becoming a Broadway show. Filmed at the Hudson Theater in New York City in late 2019, the intentionally minimalist stage show - and there's a reason for that relating to human connection - includes some songs from that album, but also includes Talking Heads classics such as "Once in a Lifetime," "Born Under Punches," "This Must Be the Place" and "Burning Down the House."

For about two-thirds of the film, we are treated to the typically energetic stage presence of Byrne, who was once involved in one of the greatest of all concert films - Jonathan Demme's "Stop Making Sense." He and his talented multi-ethnic, multi-national backup band perform their numbers with gusto, occasionally taking a break so that Byrne can chit chat with the audience - for example, whether they'd rather look at a stage full of humans, a beautiful sky or a bag of chips. Not surprisingly, his quirky persona peeks through in these monologues.

If for no other reason, "American Utopia" would be recommended for its intoxicating aura - impressive musicianship is coupled with choreography and stylistic visual techniques courtesy of Lee that make it very watchable, even for those unfamiliar with Byrne's music. There's a lot going on on for a concert that is fairly low on stage design and effects.

But then, toward the end of the show, Byrne brings back the theme of connectivity and adds a political component and social commentary that just seem to fit quite well. First, he talks about a voting initiative in which he has been engaged, and the film uses lighting effects to show how few people actually vote by singling out groups of people in the audience via stage lights.

Then, he launches into a powerful cover of Janelle Monae's protest song "Hell You Talmbout?," which she sang at the Women's March on Washington in 2017. Byrne said he was hesitant to include the song in the show as an aging white man - but Monae told him the song was for everyone. The song - which has a repetitive structure - shouts out the names of Black women and men who have been murdered - mostly by police. The names include Sean Bell, Eric Garner and Emmett Till, and the chorus repeats "say their name." Images of people holding up their pictures accompany the music, and it culminates with images of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

This number is immediately followed by the lovely a cappella a "One Fine Day," which tells us, "Then a peace of mind fell over me; in these troubled times, I still can see; we can use the stars to guide the way; it is not that far, one fine day." Then, almost as some sort of cosmic joke, this is followed by the closer, "Road to Nowhere," during which Byrne and his band march through the audience.

"American Utopia" combines the sensibilities of its two artists - Byrne, whose imagination and musical abilities have made him one of the most unique musical figures of the past 40-some years; and Lee, who's long been a great director, but has really been on fire as of late. The picture is a very good concert film, but it's also a hopeful performance that sees a brighter future arising out of the darkness.