All this is to say that Spike Lee\u2019s film of Byrne\u2019s American Utopia<\/em> show, which ran on Broadway from October 2019 to February of this year, is a bittersweet document and a sometimes distant viewing experience. The feeling of nostalgia for an extremely recent past is particularly strong in a moment when going to a concert with friends feels like a vague memory. When Byrne tells his audience \u201cThank you for leaving your homes\u201d near the beginning of the show, it\u2019s hard not to let out a rueful laugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like Stop Making Sense<\/em>, American Utopia<\/em> is a stripped-down affair. The production design is spartan. A chain curtain closes the stage into a square, and Byrne and his diverse 11-piece band all wear identical gray suits. This is intended to cut back anything that distracts the audience from direct connection with the folks onstage (\u201cUs and you. That\u2019s what the show is,\u201d Byrne says plainly). It definitely works \u2013 with a lack of other stimuli, it\u2019s easier to focus on the music, composed mainly of songs from Byrne\u2019s 2018 American Utopia<\/em> album as well as ones with other collaborators and the Talking Heads discography. It also brings focus to the joyful energy of the performers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As director, Lee has a strong sense of how to make the camera\u2019s interactions with the performance onstage something more than a straightforward landscape. There are aerial shots that detail complex choreography from an angle no one in the theater would see. He follows performers\u2019 individual gestures, group movements, and sometimes props to create a sense of momentum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While American Utopia<\/em> is a strong example of how to capture a live performance, there are hints that it could become something more. This is especially evident during a riveting performance of Janelle Monae\u2019s protest song \u201cHell You Talmbout,\u201d in which Lee intercuts images of the Black lives lost to racism and police brutality whose names the song calls out. There are loose connective threads throughout that allude to Byrne\u2019s making art out of a desire to understand humanity, but those moments of interaction with the audience are brief, and they never quite feel like a cohesive journey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n American Utopia<\/em> occasionally hints at transcendance, but at heart it\u2019s still a concert film. It presents a historical document of a recent past, when we could still leave our homes for things like Broadway shows or concerts. The film flirts with the sense of distinct perspective that A Poem is a Naked Person<\/em> or Amazing Grace<\/em> tackle head-on, but ultimately its interests are (understandably) in depicting a cultural event. While Lee is good at making the experience feel unique, even he can\u2019t precisely replicate the feel of a room. That unavoidable feeling of remove is strengthened by the knowledge that it may be a long time until we can feel something like it again.\u00a0![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/American-Utopia2.jpg\")
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