True Stories

Whatever he touches turns to gold – or, a surreal stream of reflections on the beauty of Americana. In True Stories, David Byrne is a master storyteller spinning tabloid-style, fascinating tales. The Talking Heads frontman manages to dress up his peculiar observations into a full-blown musical. Together with John Goodman, the director delivers a surreal tour of small, fictional Texas towns, giant supermarkets, and pompous parades. Everything appears to be simultaneously real and absurd – and the film’s soundtrack provides a captivating commentary on these local idiosyncrasies. If anyone still needs convincing, I’d say that True Stories is Nashville, if the latter was a comedy.

Patrycja Mucha

David Byrne (b. 1952) is an American musician and visual artist of Scottish origin. In 1975 he founded the rock group Talking Heads, which disbanded in 1991. Since then he has continued his career as a solo artist. He has also been involved with the cinema, composing music for a number of films and appearing in the concert film Stop Making Sense (1984). True Stories is his only feature film as a director.