Between the Teeth Reviews

In 1984, Jonathan Demme directed what is now considered a classic live concert film, STOP MAKING SENSE, for Talking Heads. Ten years later, the leader of the now-defunct art-pop group, David Byrne, tries his own hand at a smaller-scale concert film, BETWEEN THE TEETH. The film was shot at a 1992 concert date in New Jersey during Byrne's tour with his band 10 Car Pile-Up. The group performs some Talking Heads songs, mostly from their later career, as well as material from Byrne's solo albums "Rei Momo" and "Uh-Oh." Byrne continues to adapt a variety of international pop styles to his brand of quirky rock, and much of the material has a Latin feel--it's a mixed bag of Heads-style New Wave, World Beat, Afro-Cuban rhythm, and salsa, complete with a tightly-arranged horn section and Latin percussion. The Heads tunes "Mr. Jones" and "Blind," both from the group's final studio LP, work well this way (they were quasi-Latin to begin with), and the new songs, like "Make Believe Mambo" and "She's Mad," are lively and fun, more exuberant than anything Byrne's done in the past. Perhaps coincidentally, the film begins like STOP MAKING SENSE: Byrne on stage alone, with just a rhythm box for accompaniment, doing a few numbers before the whole band comes in. The film's visual conceit (and it's a useful one, considering how lackluster most concert films are) is that each song is shot in a different style--we go from extreme close-ups for one number, to standard audience-and-band footage for another, to a segment in which the ensemble is bathed in eerie blue light. The Heads hit "Life During Wartime" is aptly shot like combat footage, with the camera zooming in and out, scrambling among the various players. It's effective enough to make one wish the movie were more visually varied; while the film's press notes claim that each song was shot differently, the differences are not always readily apparent. The performances, however, are mostly spirited and danceable, and those familiar only with Byrne's Talking Heads output will find this a good introduction to his new work.