TRUE STORIES - REVIEWS/PRESS

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By Keith Simanton

Truly quirky, this mock documentary is part musical, part farce, and completely, oddly innocent. This is a one-man-band job for David Byrne (lead singer of the Talking Heads), who writes, stars, and directs, It's ostensibly about the sesquicentennial celebration of a small Texas town, but it's really about strange characters and strange attitudes. Byrne is our guide, driving us around and giving tour information about Texas in an innocuous patter, frequently running into Louis Fyne (John Goodman), a lonely man looking for love. At various times, and with little provocation, the film swoons into a Talking Heads number with preachers and bar patrons belting out tunes. If you make room for it, however, True Stories can surprise and delight with its inventiveness and its unconventional treatment of the residents. A scene in which a construction worker launches into an aria, on a makeshift stage when no one else is around, is but one example of numerous such moments in this bizarre, delightful, and benign film. Any Talking Heads fan who doesn't own it should. --Keith Simanton David Byrne In 'True Stories'

Luckily, a lot of the small-town American artifacts David Byrne uses in ''True Stories'' already existed, so Mr. Byrne didn't have to invent them. But he easily could have, so perfectly do they follow from the sensibility he has displayed as the singer, songwriter and visionary behind Talking Heads. Mr. Byrne's music has always been uncommonly visual, and when he began directing rock videos he seemed to be making an effortless transition. The leap to feature film making comes even more freely: ''True Stories'' is a pure and jubilant extension of Mr. Byrne's distinctive world view.

 

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