Literally everything David Byrne says in this movie can serve as a quote in a Letterboxd review, you pick one.

Tempting to read this as pure satire, but if that's what it is it's extraordinarily condescending and unilluminating - instead I think the view voiced by Byrne, that suburban sprawl, shopping malls, prefabricated buildings, TV commercials, and even giant corporations can all be beautiful is more or less what's being expressed by the movie, albeit in a very funny tongue-in-cheek mode that should seem faintly familiar to fans of his band. And then there's the stuff that probably was intended as satire in 1986, like the "Puzzling Evidence" religion based on an unending conspiracy narrative, that have basically come true in the intervening 30 years. Extremely hard not to love.

utterly crazy seeing this in the front row of a theater, finally just as big as it has always felt in my mind, like i could lean forward and fall inside of it or bathe in it until i swell up & pop. i've been driving fast through the texas countryside at night in very dangerous weather conditions every day all week and even though i was terrified i was going to fly off the road and die in a ball of fire, or run through a field and straight off the edge of the world, i also thought of spalding gray telling his story about how god got lazy and created people who love it here, and knew that dying is the only thing that could ever make me leave

John Goodman is one of the greats. Anyone who says any different isn't someone I want to hang out with.

This film is special to me.

Yep.

“I really enjoy forgetting. When I first come to a place, I notice all the little details. I notice the way the sky looks. The color of white paper. The way people walk. Doorknobs. Everything. Then I get used to the place and I don't notice those things anymore. So only by forgetting can I see the place again as it really is.”

It’s a shame David Byrne didn’t go on to direct more features. I guess we have this and a plethora of talking heads music videos to enjoy instead. And of course his music.

me to david byrne in this movie: 78.media.tumblr.com/4ae58d0382c75b1664aa594145f22125/tumblr_inline_p38neicilN1rh4qsw_540.png

"True Stories" contains plenty of fantastic song numbers and likable characters, but it unfortunately doesn't reach the absurdist heights that it's premise suggests.

This could be one of the most interesting films I've seen this year.
Told with a big heart and following a smalltown full of small stories. But nothing feels forced.

If you enjoy Talking Heads, it's a must see.

Precursor to "This American Life" without the storytelling skill.

Credit to David Byrne for having a distinct style and quirkiness to his filmmaking, but TRUE STORIES is plodding and full of abstract '80s mall/consumer culture satire that doesn't land today.

I'd be happy to watch 100 more David Byrne films (he'd gone on to make more) because there's clear potential here. And as a natural progression of MTV's success, the music here is mostly good or at worst just interesting.