It took them 37 damn years to get their senses together and honor the film’s true star: Chris Frantz behaving like a middle-school dance hype man while David Byrne changes his outfit. (We’re only slightly kidding.) Stop Making Sense, one of the greatest music documentaries and suit-wearing moments of all time, is being added to the National Film Registry for preservation among several other 2021 inductees. The Library of Congress announced its inclusion today, confirming that the Talking Heads’ concert film, directed by the late Jonathan Demme, is “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” and has “enduring importance to American culture.” (Other films being added include Wall-E, The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, and Strangers on a Train, all of which do not feature an extended choreography break to “What a Day That Was,” but whatever.) Byrne, Frantz, Tina Weymouth, and Jerry Harrison perform an intoxicating medley of Talking Heads hits at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre for the film; however, Stop Making Sense is less of a standard-issue concert and more of a conceptual stage show that was heightened by Byrne’s strong artistic vision. Kind of like American Utopia.
