DAVID BYRNE'S AMERICAN UTOPIA 4K Review: Barefoot in a Suit

Imagine your grandfather dancing.

Now put that image out of your head, and watch David Byrne, born in 1952, sharing a stage with dancers, singers, and musicians, performing a joyous celebration of songs about buildings and food and life.

David Byrne's American Utopia (2020)
The Criterion Collection releases the film today in a 4K/Blu-ray (2-disc edition). The film is also available, separately, in both Blu-ray and DVD editions.

Self-described as 'a white man of a certain age,' David Byrne's remarkable dexterity continually astonished me as I watched the new 4K release, directed by Spike Lee.

Mind you, I'd already seen the 2020 production on HBO Max, where it remains available for streaming, which I enjoyed for what it was: a stage production, filmed in front of a live audience, recorded on video for posterity's sake.

Watching it again in 4K, though, was remarkably different. Sure, it's still not the same as actually seeing and hearing it live, yet in several ways, it feels like a far more vivid experience.

Choreographed and staged in dazzling style by Annie-B Parson, the show itself presents the songs as part of a tapestry of American life in the early 21st century. Songs from through David Byrne's musical career, beginning as a member of Talking Heads in the 1970s and 80s, through to his time as a solo artist since the 90s, and including selections from his titular album, released in 2018, are reimagined with musical arrangements that take full advantage of the 11 musicians / dancers / singers on stage with Byrne; all are barefoot and wear gray suits and somehow appear tireless as they bring the songs to life with zestful energy.

Between songs, Byrne deepens the narrative with spoken-word interludes that advance the story, as well as spotlight his keen sense of modern society and sense of the need for political action and protest.

That's all well and good, one might say, except that Spike Lee and director of photography Ellen Kuras, who first worked together on 4 Little Girls (1997), take the whole, wonderful show to another level with their work. They choreograph their 13 cameras magnificently, so that they fairly dance around the performers on stage -- thanks to ace Steadicam operation -- and film the action from a dizzying profusion of angles that make this film markedly different from the stage production, from intimate, inventive angles and framing to the fluid motion of the cameras on stage and off.

It's heady stuff.

Criterion's new release places the film in 4K all by itself on one disc, which allows the bytes to sing and the transfer's absolute beauty to stand out as a complement to the film.

The second disc included is a Blu-ray that contains the film, along with two special features. Produced by The Criterion Collection in 2025, Making David Byrne's American Utopia is a documentary that tracks the genesis of the touring show and how it was developed by the artists involved, featuring interviews with Parsons, lighting designer Rob Sinclair, dancer/vocalist Tendayi Kuumba, musician/dancer Bobby Wooten II, and director Spike Lee.

In its transfer to a Broadway show, Byrne reconceptualized how the show would be presented and added the spoken-word interludes. Director of photography Ellen Kuras then joins in and explains the challenges and how they met them, which adds to the fascinating documentary, which makes clear Byrne's overall objectives for the show.

In the 14-minute A Conversation with Spike Lee and David Byrne, recorded on the brink of the film's theatrical release in 2020, talk about their first meeting some years before, their eventual team-up to make this movie, and add information about what made the Broadway show different from the touring show.

Summing up: This is the rare disc on which the chapters invite rewatches, since they divide up the disc into songs. It's an excellent disc, and highly recommended.