True Stories
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2018 2:35 pm
Not sure if anyone else on the board has seen this wonderful gem of a film. It was directed by Talking Heads front man David Byrne and released in 1986. This week it finally dropped on bluray courtesy of Criterion. It's essentially a collection of stories with a slight through line of the town of Virgil, Texas holding a Celebration of Specialness for the Texas Sesquicentennial. It has shades of The Straight Story and The Return and is very much about small town American quirk but pushes it just a bit in to the surreal. It lacks the darker side that Lynch gravitates towards and explores, but I love it.
And there's an amazing documentary about how the film was made on the Criterion release that examines the strange, specific, and different process Byrne went through to make it. For example, he began by creating thumbnails and then brought in Stephen Tobolowsky to help write a script based on the thumbnails. He also took a lot of inspiration from tabloid headlines and this edition(at least the blu) comes with a literal newspaper that includes some normal Criterion booklet material as well as some of the original tabloid stories.
I would highly suggest it if you enjoy meandering and surreal Americana.
And there's an amazing documentary about how the film was made on the Criterion release that examines the strange, specific, and different process Byrne went through to make it. For example, he began by creating thumbnails and then brought in Stephen Tobolowsky to help write a script based on the thumbnails. He also took a lot of inspiration from tabloid headlines and this edition(at least the blu) comes with a literal newspaper that includes some normal Criterion booklet material as well as some of the original tabloid stories.
I would highly suggest it if you enjoy meandering and surreal Americana.