Welcome back to Left of The Dial, and to Part 2 of the “True Stories” reviews! If you missed the last review of the Talking Heads album of the same name, then go check that out before you go any further with this one. All done? Wonderful! Then let’s proceed!
True Stories was released on October 10, 1986, about a month after the album. Like my previous movie review, Ordinary World, music plays a prominent role in True Stories, which makes it fair game for review on Left of The Dial. In fact, music is a critical part of the storytelling; the songs that we listened to on the album were written with the film’s characters in mind. So it makes perfect sense that a musician served as a director on the project, that being David Byrne, who you’d know as the frontman of Talking Heads.
Byrne’s approach to the production of this movie is incredibly fascinating to me, so I’m going to summarize it real quick before we watch it. He based the story off a handful of tabloid headlines he had collected on tour with Talking Heads, which were then made into simple storyboard drawings that he kept on his wall. Many of those drawings carried on to the cinematography and staging in the final film, and it’s amazing to see how thoroughly Byrne had thought this movie through prior to completing production. If you’re able to, I highly suggest you track down The Criterion Collection’s release of the film (yeah, True Stories was re-released as part of The Criterion Collection!) for its bonus features. They provide a lot of great insight into production and show off Byrne’s original storyboards and tabloid clippings.
As a final word before watching the movie, I’ll reiterate my approach to film reviews here. This will be a spoiler-free review, so you can read on if you haven’t seen the film yet. I’ll be judging my final rating based on a combo of the story, the characters/actors, and the music, plus I’ll sprinkle in any easter eggs and fun facts I come across along the way. So with that, let’s load up our DVD players and start watching! If you’d like to watch along, it’s available to rent through Amazon Prime for a small price.
The opening gives us the film’s subtitle and summary of what to expect from the film: “A film about a bunch of people in Virgil, Texas.” True Stories is basically a mockumentary, a faux documentary about a fictional town populated with fictional people. Our guide is The Narrator (played by David Byrne), a cowboy hat-donning outsider who’s visiting the town for its Celebration of Specialness to mark the 150th anniversary of the state’s independence. As he cruises around in his red vintage car, he turns and talks to us, the audience, directly about his observations and findings throughout the film. He starts with a brief history of Texas to set the stage, then introduces the underlying plot point of the film: The Celebration of Specialness (COS for short).
While Virgil is not a real place, the Narrator’s history lesson does carry some kernels of truth. For example, he says that the silicon-based transistor was first proposed in Texas and that Jack Kilby invented the integrated circuit during his time at Texas Instruments. With a quick online search, these are all proven to be true, and both inventions were accredited to TI.
Our first stop in town is the Varicorp Corporation, the sponsor of the COS. Though the Narrator introduces it as a major public relations place in a “multipurpose shape, a box,” it’s actually a computer manufacturing plant. Along the assembly line, we’re introduced to some of our recurring characters. There’s the Cute Woman (played by Alix Elias), the Lying Woman (played by Jo Harvey Allen), and Ramon (played by Tito Larriva). The Cute Woman and Lying Woman have fairly obvious quirks in their names, but Ramon claims to be able to read ‘tones’ emitting from people’s heads. The song “Radio Head” comes to mind, which is then solidified when he sings the first verse and chorus to the lady next to him.
As the Narrator is given his tour of the plant, you’ll notice how often characters go on talking about nonsense, at least at first glance. These moments don’t serve to advance the plot. Instead, they exist to build up the atmosphere of Virgil and set the mood. It’s a very David Byrne thing to do, and it makes it clear that the story isn’t the most important part of the movie.
We’re then introduced to Louis Fyne (played by John Goodman), another worker at the plant who has some of the worst luck finding a wife. If the comically large sign on his front lawn doesn’t make his goal clear, then the cutaways to his various failed dates probably will. He’s a kindly man and it doesn’t appear to be his fault that his dates constantly go sour (I mean come on, this is John Goodman we’re talking about!).
Our next stop is The Club, where the Narrator meets up with Louis and Ramon. This is also when we’re treated to a performance of “Wild Wild Life.” If you’ve seen the music video for this song, then you know what to expect in this scene. A variety of characters and extras take turns lip-syncing to the Talking Heads’ recording of the song. Louis and Ramon are among them, as well as the Talking Heads themselves in various costumes. This musical number is probably the least essential to the “plot,” but it’s a ton of fun, which is enough to justify its presence.
As the song concludes, there’s a solid minute of quiet ambiance to calm us down from the club scene. I love these moments because they show how much more there is to Virgil than the eccentric characters we focus on. These moments are scored to an ambient instrumental of “City of Dreams,” which couldn’t be a more fitting choice. The Narrator introduces a brief scene about a woman who’s so rich she never has to leave her bed. This lady is Miss. Rollings (played by Swoosie Kutz), and she has an assistant named Mr. Tucker (played by soul singer Roebuck “Pops” Staples). Miss. Rollings does nothing but watch TV most days and rant about her observations to Mr. Tucker, and boy does she annoy me. I think it’s her tone of voice that gets under my skin.
Our next stop is the mall. If you have a keen eye, you might spot a couple sets of twins in matching clothing. The Narrator and Louis point out one pair, but there’s way more to be found. More than 50 sets were cast throughout the movie, and most of them show up in the mall and subsequent fashion show sequence. There isn’t any clear reason why there are so many twins present, but it provides an interesting visual. I also like to think there’s some subtext it implies about “something in the water” in Virgil that causes twins to be born more often than normal there.
Speaking of the fashion show sequence, it gives us a chance to see what kind of creativity Virgil has with their fashion design. “Dream Operator” is performed by Kay Culver (played by Annie McEnroe) as she emcees the show. We’ll see more of her and her family later when they have the Narrator over for dinner. I love how naturally the music is incorporated into the scene, with the instrumental building up as Kay introduces the show before she begins singing. It reminds me of how Howard Ashman would incorporate his songs into the Renaissance-era Disney musicals.
After a few more ambient scenes and a date between Louis and The Lying Woman, we reach the dinner scene with the Culvers and the Narrator. We meet Kay’s husband Earl (played by Gary Spaulding) and their two children. The couple seems to have a great relationship, but they don’t speak directly to one another. Instead, they have their children relay messages between them. Earl makes an energetic speech about the civics of Virgil and Varicorp, using the courses of food as metaphorical pieces of the economy. No matter how many times I have watched this scene, I still don’t understand a thing that Earl is saying, but that’s probably me. There’s a nice bit of comedy and fourth-wall breaking within this scene as Earl begins his speech. A bit of music fades in, which the daughter points out with “Do you hear music?”, followed by the Narrator turning to the son and asking “Is something wrong with your sister?”. It’s so odd, especially against the family throwing their food around the table and the lazy susans turning completely by themselves, that I can’t help but laugh at it.
We’re only halfway through the movie, but I’ll wrap up the plot summary with the church scene and performance of “Puzzlin’ Evidence.” Virgil clearly has a lot of reliance on its local businesses, but this particular preacher (played by John Ingle) has some serious problems with consumerism and how reliant the American people are on it. His teachings are a reference to the Church of the SubGenius, a parody religion that satirizes most mainstream religions and their money-hungry ways. Though it teaches anti-commercialism, its prophet is J.R. “Bob” Dobbs, the greatest salesman who ever lived. The Church is acutely self-aware of its own ridiculousness, which makes it popular among college students. Some prominent “followers” of The Church include R. Crumb (underground comic artist and creator of Fritz the Cat), Mark Mothersbaugh (of DEVO fame), Paul Reubens (who played Pee-wee Herman), and most importantly to this review, David Byrne himself. Make of that what you will.
Anyways, the preacher gives a rousing sermon and musical performance of the aforementioned “Puzzlin’ Evidence.” In my review of the album, I mentioned that this song drags on for too long. This problem is erased in the film thanks to the natural incorporation of the song into the dialog. I also appreciate John Ingle’s vocals and the natural preacher energy he lends to the song. One last Easter egg I’ll leave you with for this scene is related to The Lying Woman. When she gets up and rants about her involvement with the JFK assassination, that was completely ad-libbed by Jo Harvey Allen. Her character was supposed to be silent in the script, but her improv leads to some great reactions from the congregation and the preacher.
The rest of the film is made up of more vignettes and musical performances loosely connected by the Narrator’s journey. Some prominent ones to pay attention to are the 4H kids performing “Hey Now,” the music video for “Love for Sale,” Louis’ TV commercial looking for a wife, and the Celebration of Specialness that serves as the film’s climax. I can say that most of the plot points that have been brought up to this point wrap up nicely by the end, so you won’t leave unsatisfied.
True Stories is an acquired taste of a film. If you take typical 3-act structures seriously in your stories, then this probably isn’t the movie for you. If you’re a Talking Heads fan or love off-beat storytelling and musicals, then you’ll get a kick out of this film. While the story goes all over the place with the multitude of characters, the Narrator and his Marlin Perkins approach to observation provides solid transitions between them all and keeps things in order. The pacing is on point thanks to the fluid editing and Byrne’s knack for ambiance and worldbuilding.
The acting is solid as well, with each character and extra pulling off their roles with finesse. Even Byrne, who isn’t a seasoned actor, fits his role as the Narrator perfectly thanks to his slightly awkward way of speaking and his curious nature. One weak point is with Miss Rollings, though that’s a matter of personal opinion and not for any lack of talent. The other is with Kay and Earl Culver, as I feel they could have had another scene or two to highlight their gimmick of not speaking to one another directly.
Finally, the music is absolutely incredible! The soundtrack was written with the main characters in mind, and so the performances in the film work just as well, if not better, than they do on Talking Heads’ album. My personal favorites are John Goodman’s performance of “People Like Us,” Tito Larriva’s performances of “Radio Head,” and of course Pops Staples’ performance of “Papa Legba.” Overall, True Stories is a wonderful hidden gem of a film that I highly recommend to fans of off-beat cult movies.
Rating: 9.5/10
Feature Photo designed by Becca Fauteux