TRUE STORIES
US, 1986, 111 minutes, Colour.
David Byrne, John Goodman, Swoosie Kurtz, Spalding Gray.
Directed by David Byrne.
True Stories is an entertaining piece of offbeat American comedy and satire. It is the work of David Byrne, member of the Talking Heads group. He is actor, musician, composer (The Last Emperor) and actor. He collaborated in the writing of this screenplay with actor Steven Tobolowsky and Beth Henley (Crimes of the Heart, Nobody's Fool, Miss Firecracker). He acknowledges his debt to Federico Fellini's Amacord as well as Robert Altmann's Nashville.
Byrne draws on his experience with music videos, experimental work in the film of the Talking Heads concert, Stop Making Sense, directed by Jonathan Demme. The film has the basic framework of a narrator coming into Virgil, Texas. However, the film goes in many different directions, following the strands of the various characters who are introduced - satirically but with some affection. These include Louis, played by John Goodman, the lazy woman (played by Swoozie Kurtz), a family whose father is played by Spalding Gray. There are myriads of characters intertwining for the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of Texas. In this way we are offered an eccentric view of human nature, Texas style, as well as many ingredients for satirising the American way of life.
1.Impact of the film? Humour, satire, humanity? Its offbeat style? The ironic tone of its title?
2.David Byrne's contribution, writing and directing, acting and music? The acknowledgment of Fellini and Robert Altmann? American film-making, experimental film-making and videos?
3.The atmosphere of Texas, real and unreal, the 150th anniversary? Audience expectations of a spoof of Texas? The landscapes, the towns, the South - all larger than life?
4.The piece of Americana, American characters and eccentrics, style of talking, behaving? Extravagant, wealth, clothes? The blend of the serious and the spoof?
5.The narrator arriving, driving, the stylised countryside, the little girl in white? The book about Texas, the photos and the film clips? Virgil, Texas and its tone? The ironic tone of the commentary?
6.The musical score, the range of songs, the lyrics and their meaning, commenting on the action? The blend of the visual imagery and the music?
7.The factory and its personnel, the townspeople? Their being individuals, their being symbolic characters?
8.The range of episodes:
- The Mall: American malls, the fashion show, the models, the eccentric clothes?
- Dinner at the Culvers: the talk about the future, father as patriarch, the mother and the children, the narrator at the meal? The solemnity? Religiosity? The meaning of life?
- Fellowship Hall: the conspiracy to corrupt morals, the speaker and his fundamentalism and anger, the attacking of the media, the industrialists, the CIA?
- Louis, the genial fat man of Virgil, Texas? Wanting to get married, his television advertisement and his pride in it? His going to see the cute woman, the encounter and its failure?
- The Lazy Woman, her wealth, style, in bed, watching television, her servants? The phone? The satire on the type of material she watched on television?
- The talent show and the preparations? The hall, everybody involved, the practices?
- Mr Tucker, the spiritualist, his advice, the impact on Louis?
- The Celebration of Specialness Parade - the narrator watching, the floats, the participants? Americans and parades?
- The concert and the various items: the duelling auctioneers, the yo-yo expert, the dancing cowgirls, Ramon and his band, Louis and his song?
- The Lazy Woman in bed, watching the show, getting out of bed, calling Louis, the proposal of marriage - and the spoof of the marriage in the bedroom?
9.The experience of Virgil, Texas, and of America? American men and women? Traditions, modern?
10.The little girl in white - the symbol at the beginning and the end? The narrator driving out changed by his visit - as were the audience?
