Mythical town spotlighted

Press, 5 February 1987, Page 14

Mythical town spotlighted

“TRUE STORIES” Directed by David Byrne Screenplay by Beth Henley Stephen Tobolowsky and Byrne “True Stories” comes across on the screen like television’s “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not.” David Byrne, head Talking Head, co-writer, director, and narrator of the film is like a warped Jack Palance, taking the cinemagoer through three days in the life of Virgil, a mythical Texas town.

The film is frustratingly, extremely funny. There is little plot about the three days building up to Virgil’s sesquicentennial (150th anniversary) Celebration of Specialness culminating in a talent quest. Rather, Byrne allows us to study characters such as the Lying Woman and the Lazy Woman, developed from true news stories that he has read. The film works. Cinematographer Ed Lachman (“Union City,” “Desperately Seeking Susan”) has worked wonders for Byrne, the neophyte director, through stark Polaroid-style colours and sets that are stuck in a barren landscape of the Texas plain. Well, almost barren. Virgil (pop. 40,000) is growing and Byrne shows some stills of what the area used to be like (i.e., covered by the sea, later dinosaurs, and then Indians, followed by land wars, and so on). Now Virgil is gobbling up the land as it expands and where once there was sea

now there is a car-park.

“True Stories” is a modern still life. Bryne, the narrator, takes us on a tour of Virgil and thd people in it. He drives a big Chrysler convertible (“This is a real car, not rented”) telling his story like a talking head connected to a car body.

And so we are taken for a ride on the freeways (“Someone said these are the cathedrals of our time”) to look at architecture, such as the headquarters of Terrycorp, which the narrator ends up describing as “a box.” The fictional conglomerate, Terrycorp, is central to the film, as Byrne expands on a theme that today industry has replaced religion.

At a dinner with the civic leader, Earl Culver (Spalding Gray) and his family, the narrator is treated to an explanation of the fragmentation of capitalism, as the Mayor suddenly has “informa’tion” in the form of tomatoes and peppers whizzing around the dinner table along optical fibre lines made of asparagus stalks. The talk ends up with Culver stating that his children were going to end up with a new concept — “no week-ends.”

Business is central to life. The shopping mall has replaced city hall as the place to meet. At a fashion show, the Mayor’s wife (Annie McEnroe) says “be sexy in business, successful at night,” as she introduces some of the garments.

But there are also "sinister” things going on. The

preacher (John Ingle) harangues his congregation, including asking them if they always find that they run out of toilet paper and tissues at the same time. The lazy woman (Swoosie Kurtz) who is so rich she stays permanently in bed (“Wouldn’t you?” asks the narrator) complains that frankfurters come in packs of 12 and buns in packs of eight, so that you have to buy big amounts to match them up.

The music ties “True Stories” together, using a number of different styles — Tex-Mex, country, rock — and gospel to set the mood. But it is more than just a music film or a vehicle for Talking Heads. “Time” magazine called “True Stories” the most joyous and inventive rock movie-musical since “Help!” And in spite of Louis Fyne (John Goodman) running down “Time” in a song during the film, Byrne was the subject of a cover story for the magazine last October when the film came out. Goodman is the find of the film, a funny, heart-warming performance.

“True Stories” is packed with visual and aural gags, and much more can be picked up in a second viewing. The narrator comes across deadpan like Chancey, in “Being There,” taking us along like a tour guide on what is a celebration of a community in a special film. -NEVIN TOPP

Graham Brazier (left) performs the Chrome Safari single, “Fight,” in “Queen City Rocker,” a -New Zealand film which screens in Christchurch next week. To a soundtrack featuring top New Zealand musicians, “Queen City Rocker” tells the story of a streetwise teenager living rough in Auckland and facing a turning point in his troubled life. • The soundtrack record, released by Pagan, is reviewed on this page.