True Stories

The eccentric characters taken from newspapers such as The Weekly World News that color first-time director David Byrne's film, more than make up for the limited plot. Byrne brings his players together in Virgil, Texas, a fictional town caught up in the festivity of the state's sesquicentennial, and its own "Celebration of Specialness." True Stories, is an off-beat, often bizarre comedy. Byrne, lead singer of the rock band the Talking Heads, makes his directorial debut with style. He also co-wrote the script with playwright Beth Henley and actor/director Stephen Tobolowsky as well as serving as the film's narrator.

In character, Byrne is an amusing eccentric himself, cruising around town in a cherry-red convertible spewing humorous one-liners, often speaking directly to the audience, and wearing tacky urban cowboy attire. His countenance throughout the film is a wonderful mix of curiosity, amazement and disbelief as he passes through the every day life of Virgil seeking, and finding, the bizarre in the ordinary.

In this pseudo-documentary comedy, Byrne introduces us the Varicorp, the industrial heart of Virgil and as one Varicop worker put it, "The center of a changing world." Employees at Varicorp entertain us as the film's eccentrics. The character of the most consequence is Louis Fyne (John Goodman), a self-effacing "dancing fool" and seeker of "matrimony with a capital 'M'." Louis's follies in his search for a wife are documented by Byrne and are major focal point of the film. The likeable oaf is also a would-be songwriter and is scheduled to perform at the "Celebration of Specialness." Louis's co-workers at Varicorp include Ramon (Tito Larriva), a local musician who reads people's "tones;" The Lying Woman (Jo Harvey Allen), who insists she's had affairs with famous men and written the lyrics to famous songs; The Cute Woman (Alix Elias), who matches her pastel and boldly flowered clothes; and The Computer Guy (Matthew Posey), a man who sends signals "up there".

Byrne also introduces into the story Miss Rollings, the Laziest Woman in the World (Swoosie Kurtz)-a woman who never gets out of bed. She has so much money she doesn't have to. We also meet Earl (Spalding Gray) and Kay (Annie McEnroe) Culver, a couple who haven't spoken directly to another in years; The Preacher (John Ingle), all hellfire and brimstone; and Mr. Tucker (Pops Staples), spiritual healer and purveyor of love spells.

The film's progress parallels the construction of the stage for the "Celebration of Specialness" and when the stage is readied the film is set for its grand finale and curtain call. The plot consists of this as well as various goings-on in Virgil including a lip-sych contest to the Talking Heads song "Wild Wild Life," a fashion show called "A Bonanza of Beauty" from the Dream Factory where the emcee sings and the models wear clothes made with living grass and other outfits patterned in brick and woodgrain, and a parade featuring lowriders, miniature Mustangs and the lawn mower brigade.

Byrne has spiced up his work with delightful interludes of comedy awash in eye-catching detail: a fire hydrant in the middle of nowhere, a man dancing alone in his office, a security guard breaking into song when he finds he has the stage to himself. And all this is brilliantly shot by cinematographer Ed Lachman. Lachman takes stylish advantage of the austere Texas surroundings offset by the surreal happenings of Virgil. The Byrne/Lachman team inspire visual wizardry. Lachman's intense photo- graphy is interspersed with montage video's, directly separately.

The score, by the Talking Heads, is performed throughout the film mostly by the principals and not the band. John Goodman turns in a memorable performance as Louis and performs with ease the climactic song, "People Like Us." Eighty- year old Roebuck "Pops" Staples, lead singer of the gospel group The Staples Singers, is a natural in his acting debut as Mr. Tucker. His rendition of Talking Heads song "Papa Legba" is a sizzler. John Ingle's Preacher scorches with a rocking choir of "Puzzlin' Evidence". Each individual performance is a stand-out.

When the "Celebration of Specialness" finally begins, Mr. Tucker's singing coaxes his magic into taking effect on Louis, just before "the country bachelor" walks onto the stage. Throughout, Byrne has maintained that the people of Virgil are "inventing their own systems of beliefs". They are. He has dug into the hopes, fears, excitement and satisfaction of life in Virgil. But Louis sums it all up eloquently with his lyric: "There's something special about people like us."

There is a happy ending to all this- Louis finds someone to love. Byrne closes True Stories the same way opened it- a young girl playing alone on a dirt road cutting though an expanse of green Texas plain and halving the blue sky of the horizon. True Stories is a must-see slice of life, with a twist.

"True Stories" is available on VHS, Laserdisc and DVD.

Links

• "True Stories" soundtrack
• Rock's Renaissance Man -TIME article concerning True Stories

See the archive for articles and reviews.

Cast:

• Louis Fyne - John Goodman
• Kay Culver - Anne McEnroe
• Earl Culver - Spalding Gray
• Narrator - David Byrne
• Lazy Woman - Swoosie Kurtz
• Lying Woman - Jo Harvey Allen
• Mr. Tucker - Roebuck 'Pops' Staples
• Cute Woman - Alix Elias
• Ramon - Tito Larriva
• Computer Guy - Matthew
• Posey Preacher - John Ingle