Imagine someone taking the script & characters of "Leave it to Beaver" and filming it in vivid color with some cool music. That's the feeling I got while watching this movie. Sometimes it's hard to know if you're supposed to laugh with the characters or at them.

"True Stories" a satire of smalltown America, of course, including some extreme caricatures of humanity (sloth, dishonesty, materialism, imperialism, etc). But it's done with such a low-key presentation that it might pass you by without you noticing. This film is definitely a comedy, but there are no punchlines. Just a bizarre feeling that everything is a joke.

David Byrne (referred to only as "Our Visitor") strolls through the bizarre setting of Virgil, Texas, narrating various odd episodes with his signature soft, nerdy voice. Anyone else would've come across as sarcastic, but Byrne is so deadpan--like Leslie Nielsen 2 octaves higher--that we often wonder exactly what he's trying to say. If anything.

But the episodes speak for themselves. If you don't immediately catch the absurdness of the situations, the wacky visuals and blending of surrealism should be enough to tell you you're watching a quiet madhouse. Several sequences border on Terry Gilliam-esque genius while others aren't quite as effective. But either way, it's a memorable experience. John Goodman's lines & facial expressions are classic, guiding us through an otherwise perplexing experience.

It's hard to compare this to other films, but Byrne's directing style reminded me of early Tim Burton ("Edward Scissorhands", "Ed Wood") with his cheerful fantasy-sarcasm. Other times I was reminded of Vincent Gallo ("Buffalo 66") with the odd compositions and asymmetric shots. And in a weird way I was reminded of Godard's classic "Alphaville", the way the humor is so elusive that you hardly realize it's there.

Notable songs (lip synched by different characters in the movie) include "Wild Wild Life" at a showcase, "Dream Operator" at a bizarre fashion show at the mall, "Love for Sale" on TV (the regular video), "People Like Us" at a talent show, and the iconic "Radio Head" (which, yes, lent its name to the band) and a slew of other Talking Heads & David Byrne tunes. I confess I didn't recognize any except "Wild Wild Life" & "Radio Head", but I imagine if you're a Talking Heads fan you'll hear plenty to keep you groovin.

I wouldn't recommend this to casual moviegoers or casual Talking Heads fans, but if you like (artsy) movies and/or recognize most of the songs I named above, don't hesitate to check out this weird movie.

At this late date, TRUE STORIES – the lone feature film directed by renaissance man/rock-n-roll artiste/ex-Rhode Island School of Design student David Byrne - is viewed (if remembered as all) as a cerebral artifact from the 80s. TRUE STORIES is a far from flawless film, and its' influence is highly debatable. But the 90s saw an explosion of films wrapped in an aura of aloof, ironic cool – bits of very low-key postmodernist voyeuristic glimpses into the day-to-day lives of 'ordinary people' – either lauded or ridiculed for their 'authenticity.'

Simultaneously, a number of feature films were also exploring the limits of a dubious sub-style known as faux-documentary. And – great or not – this fascinating film reworked the possibilities of both long before most of the competition. In essence, this is a very detached take on the musical – set in fictional Virgil, Texas – a small-but-growing prairie boomtown notable for its antiseptic normality. Each of the principal characters are based upon people Byrne (who co-wrote the screenplay) had read about in tabloid newspapers – hence the man so lonely he buys commercial time to advertise himself on TV (John Goodman), the laziest woman in the world (Swoozie Kurtz), the world's worst pathological liar (Jo Harvey Allen), and spectacles like the mall fashion show, where we get to see (among other treats) a 3-piece suit made entirely out of lawn clippings (What?!?! No macramé, velvet paintings, tractor pulls or decoupage?). Byrne – who appears as a travel guide/narrator - gently escorts the audience through this offbeat parade, as the varied denizens of Virgil do what they do, occasionally pausing to sing one of the numerous songs (genre exercises well-matched to the characters - watch for a great 'Papa Legba' performed by the late Pops Staples) written by Byrne for the film. At worst, TRUE STORIES could be viewed as the enthusiastic and genuinely inspired work of an ambitious, intellectual urbanite who really, really ought to get out more – and Byrne should be credited for not indulging in the sneering, aloof insularity that has occasionally infected more recent films of this variety.

But at best it comes across as a genuine attempt at presenting a unique variety of homegrown, Americana-style surrealism – something that might possibly qualify as a specific strand of folk art and culture that would be a rural counterpart to what folks like Keith Haring, Laurie Anderson, Barbara Krueger, Spalding Grey – and Byrne – were doing in the insular world of Manhattan in the 1980s. TRUE STORIES looks amazing – thanks to the sparse cinematography, and Spalding Grey, John Goodman (as Byrne's comic foil) and Pops Staples are all great. A genuinely seminal, if flawed film.

When rock's 'renaissance man' (as he was once heralded by Time magazine ..) David Byrne got the go-ahead to direct and co-write his debut feature film, fans of the quirky Talking Heads front man were naturally curious as to what oddness Mr. Byrne would produce ...

With True Stories, Byrne delivered the kind of ambiguous messages and intellectual stimulate fans had come to associate from his musical offerings - a simple enough tale, centering on fictional Texan town Virgil's quirky inhabitants and their preparations for it's 'Sesquecentenial celebration of special-ness' ... a nice backdrop for some kooky comedy, but is Byrne laughing with, or at Virgil's southern population - is he poking gentle fun at the new-age frontiersmen that constitute the towns occupants, or mercilessly taking the p*ss out of the Virgilians and their barren, pre-fab factory dotted landscape ? Some of the characters on display are fools, yet harmless-enough; 'the Lying Woman' with her outrageously tall tales, 'the Cute Woman' with her love of all things pink, 'the Lazy Woman', so rich that she never *needs* to leave her bed (Byrne : 'Well, wouldn't you ?") and fashion-concussed 'Dancing Fool' Louis Fine, who serves as the movie's main character (sympathetically handled by an amiable John Goodman ). Other characters are slightly edgier, conspiracy theorist/Preacher character, Pops Staples mystical love doctor, and the late Spalding Gray's wonderful town patriach ... Overall the films light feel leads one to believe Byrne's intentions were harmless enough - in fact his character in the film, an out-of-towner narrator dressed in ill-judged cowboy suits, is a nice metaphor for Byrne himself; an odd outsider (Byrne was a Scottish immigrant to the USA as a child) observing an even odder, new environment - the narration itself is often amusing but less often illuminating as to the Byrne's own opinions on what he sees...

Great set-pieces like the ghastly Mall fashion show, Byrne's rather surreal dinner appointment at businessman Mr. Culver's family home, a wonderful detour to a gospel church and the assorted whacky acts performed by Virgil's finest during the parade and evening performance make the film easy to watch, as does the cinematography that successfully captures the vast isolated state of Texas and it's people's often kitsch attempts to tame it. Byrne and his band Talking Heads successfully weave musical numbers throughout the film naturally, without contrivance - the actors sing most of the tunes, Byrne only saves the last number, over the closing credits, for himself... Strangely David Byrne has never directed another film. I believe that if this film had been made 10 years after its initial release, it and Byrne would have been swept up in Indie movie fever; True Stories was a slightly odd film when it first screened, and it's ambiguity puzzled some. A bit like David Byrne himself ... Well worth re-visiting if you've seen it before too ...