TRUE STORIES

Last night I pulled out -- from my box of archived VHS movies that I dubbed and never watched -- the 1986 David Byrne feature film, True Stories. I saw it with my film school buddy Mike when it came out. He figured I would want to see it since the year before, he and I saw together the great music film about the group Talking Heads (of which Byrne was its main member), Stop Making Sense, and Mike remembered how much I was impressed. He seemed to lap up my enthusiasm as we left the theatre -- I went on about how much I liked the film.

I did not like True Stories in its first release. Maybe I was not in the mood for a disconnected story; one not of the typical story structure.

Cut to last night: I really liked True Stories. Mr. Byrne had a vision. It was obvious. This was a picture of little pictures... vignettes. All were interesting and all rang true. I suppose this is the way life is, more than the stock stories told in your typical or average Hollywood movie. This is where European filmmakers excel. They show the heart of someone's experiences.

David Bryne made a very European or, more importantly, non American film. He was ahead of me and my (self proclaimed) broad tastes in cinema.