Review Roundup: David Byrne's AMERICAN UTOPIA on HBO
What did the critics have to say about the American Utopia film?
By: Nicole Rosky Sep. 10, 2020
American Utopia is coming! On October 17, HBO will release the filmed version of the acclaimed Broadway show "David Byrne's American Utopia," directed by Academy Award winning director Spike Lee.
The film just premiered at TIFF and the critics have spoken...
Owen Gleiberman, Variety: Moving from euphoria to audacity, Byrne leads a version of Janelle Monáe's "Hell You Talmbout," with the band chanting the names of African-Americans killed by police, that Lee visualizes with oracular power. Still to come are a surprisingly forceful rendition of "Blind," from the Heads' last album, and an exultant "Road to Nowhere" that, with the band walking around the aisles of the theater, channels both the chaos and the stubborn hope of the Trump era. There's nothing ironic about the title of "American Utopia." It's David Byrne and Spike Lee reveling in the majesty, and hidden magic, of the here and now.
Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly: Lee's hand in all this seems to be a light one; aside from his intimate but unobtrusive camerawork, the show appears essentially unaltered from the live performance. (Though a telling addition does come during an impassioned segment on social justice and Black lives, when newer faces are added to the images of persecution projected on stage.) Mostly he just lets the show unfurl itself, with Byrne as ringmaster, host, and resident sage - neatly soft-shoeing through the tuneful detritus of a wild, wild life. B+
David Ehrlich, IndieWire: In other words, "American Utopia" isn't just a concert doc, but also a life-affirming, euphoria-producing, soul-energizing sing-along protest film that's asking us to rise up against our own complacency. To some degree, that aspect was always baked into Byrne's recent Broadway show of the same name, a single performance of which is captured here; audience members were handed voter registration forms as they walked into the theater, and - in one of Byrne's amusing interstitial monologues - shamed with the statistic that only 55% of eligible Americans voted in the last presidential election (a record high).
Fionnuala Halligan, Screen Daily: When Talking Heads fell apart, there was much chatter about Byrne's ego, and a clue to this might lie in the clunky official title: David Byrne's American Utopia. Could that be part of what makes a great rock doc too? The power and ability to stamp your vision completely over proceedings - yet still work with big characters like Eno, and now Lee, to nail down and frame all those ideas? Byrne pops around the stage like a man rejuvenated, or perhaps one who has never aged, without as much as breaking a sweat. How wonderful for it all to be the same as it ever was.
Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian: Byrne maintains his even-tempered enigma: with his little headset-mic, he does short Ted-talk-type monologues between the tracks, and these are diverting enough but of course the music itself is what we've come for. Afterwards, Lee's camera follows Byrne off the stage out into the wings and to the dressing room where he hugs and high-fives his colleagues - no star liggers backstage, though, sadly. And then we see him get on his bike and cycle home, exactly as Alan Bennett used to do after a hard night's performing at the National Theatre in London. There is no moment where Byrne dramatically opens up, either on stage or off, but perhaps that's not the point. It's a treat for Byrne fans, and could well make converts.
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