I don't know anything about David Byrne or Talking Heads, so it was my surprise that I was actually able to finish watching this movie. It is quirky and could be artsy-fartsy social commentary, but no. This is kinda light-hearted and funny, and I think it is because David Byrne is somehow a likable character.
I didn't expect this movie to have a plot. It's about a fictitious small town named Virgil in Texas, where the "Celebration of Specialness" festival took place to celebrate the 150 year anniversary of Texas' independence. David Byrne plays a narrator, who seems to be invited to this town to report the preparation of this event and the people of Virgil.
He is not a pretentious hipster, nor making fun of weird people in this small town, but seems genuinely curious.
I read in Wikipedia about the story behind how this script was written. David Byrne clipped articles from tabloids as Talking Heads had been on tour. And he made a ton of drawings based on the clippings (Hence himself reading a tabloid in the movie poster, I guess). He met Stephen Tobolowsky (the insurance salesman Ned in "Groundhog Day") and his girlfriend Bath Heyley at a screening of Jonathan Demme's film. Byrne showed his drawings to them, and asked them to write a screenplay based on his drawings. He ended up rewriting almost the whole script, but asked Tobolowsky and Heley to list their names as co-scriptwriters so the film would seem less like a "vanity project."
So I assume that the quirky characters in this film are based on the tabloid clippings David Byrne was intrigued by, and that's why it doesn't seem like he's laughing at them. He loves his characters.
I recommend this movie when you feel like watching an offbeat movie, but don't want to watch anything hipster-overload.
I didn't expect this movie to have a plot. It's about a fictitious small town named Virgil in Texas, where the "Celebration of Specialness" festival took place to celebrate the 150 year anniversary of Texas' independence. David Byrne plays a narrator, who seems to be invited to this town to report the preparation of this event and the people of Virgil.
He is not a pretentious hipster, nor making fun of weird people in this small town, but seems genuinely curious.
I read in Wikipedia about the story behind how this script was written. David Byrne clipped articles from tabloids as Talking Heads had been on tour. And he made a ton of drawings based on the clippings (Hence himself reading a tabloid in the movie poster, I guess). He met Stephen Tobolowsky (the insurance salesman Ned in "Groundhog Day") and his girlfriend Bath Heyley at a screening of Jonathan Demme's film. Byrne showed his drawings to them, and asked them to write a screenplay based on his drawings. He ended up rewriting almost the whole script, but asked Tobolowsky and Heley to list their names as co-scriptwriters so the film would seem less like a "vanity project."
So I assume that the quirky characters in this film are based on the tabloid clippings David Byrne was intrigued by, and that's why it doesn't seem like he's laughing at them. He loves his characters.
I recommend this movie when you feel like watching an offbeat movie, but don't want to watch anything hipster-overload.