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Review Schedule:
Tues: The Agony & The Ecstasy (screening Thurs @ The Southern Theater -- 7:30)
Wed: Wheedle's Groove (screening Thurs @ Trylon -- 8:45)
Thur: Ride Rise Roar (screening Fri @ The Southern Theater -- 8:00)
Fri: Everyday Sunshine (screening Sat @ Trylon -- 5:00)
Fri: Who Is Harry Nilsson? (screening Sat @ Southern Theater -- 8:00)
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On its surface Ride Rise Roar is a document of David Byrne’s tour in support of Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, his 2008 Brian Eno collaboration. To keep the concert experience a fresh one for fans who have followed his every move for up to 30 years, Byrne hired choreographers with an experimental slant to work with amateur dancers to create new meaning for familiar music. The result is a light, energetic concert experience that will leave your body as sore as it would be had you attended the real show.
Each song is broken up by interview segments with the band, choreographers, dancers and David Byrne himself, in hopes of giving the film audience insight into their artistic choices. The interviews never turn out that way, however. There are times when the choreographers use descriptors for their choices that seem exact opposites of the moves presented to us. The most comical moments are when the interviewees talk about their work in such matter of fact terms that the untrained ear would believe they’ve had no passion for their work since day one. These segments become funny when they’re immediately succeeded by the raucous, high-energy routines their ideas become. The contrast almost becomes ironic performance art (for the record, that statement is not meant to takeaway from the quality of their work).
All of the parties interviewed place a significant distance between themselves and the audience out of a belief that the attention is undeserved. They don’t feel ownership of their choices in the way this treatment suggests. Byrne himself goes great lengths to let you know he’s not center stage of his own show. None of the ways in which these actors describe their work is meant to be definitive in the how the audience experiences the show. Their fear is that you’ll try to view their work through their mindset, which is an unfulfilling viewing state. They demand that you take ownership of your own experience here.
This film, like good performance films, isn’t a stand-in for the live version. Just as the band and the dancers are working together to create something new for the audience, this movie is an entirely different experience than the one had in-person. If you’re concerned about the angle and the placement of the shot that the camera and edits dictate, then this movie might let you down. Instead, if you let the film dictate the energy and emotion that pervades you during your viewing, you will find the experience to be much more rewarding. You might liken this style of viewing to one where you’re aided by substance, but I shouldn’t think that would be necessary to enjoy this film (but that decision is yours alone to make -- I’m here to pass judgment on movies, not on the audience).
There have been a number of occasions where I’ve tried to become an appreciator of Talking Heads’ extensive catalogue. Each time I’ve been intimated by this perceived pretentiousness, taunting my every attempt to understand their music. I wonder now if I’ve been approaching their music in the wrong manner from the get go. During the movie Brian Eno talks about how he’s less concerned with what the lyrics mean than what the music means. As pretentious as that sounds, it strangely goes a long way in preparing me for my next attempt at appreciating Talking Heads.
-Tom Schmidt
Ride Rise Roar screens Fri at The Southern Theater -- 8:00
Ride, Rise, Roar trailer from ride, rise, roar on Vimeo.
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