David Byrne takes on a tour Virgil, Texas as it celebrates it 150 years of specialness. Throughout the film Talking Heads songs pop up either sung by Byrne (though not in character) or the cast members like John Goodman. True Stories me instantly think of Neil Youngs own feature direction debut Human Highway and personally think that these two would make an excellent double bill.
The songs were soon afterwards released on the Heads album of the same name. I could say soundtrack but in actually it was more of the usual studio album affair with Byrnes adopting vocals of all the tracks. Cast vocal versions have been released of various Heads releases since as b-sides to singles lifted from the album.
The DVD is an early Warner Bros. bare bones release coming in the unpopular clip case. Zero extras and subtitles even the menu is a generic WB design. The picture and sound are both acceptable but i was a little annoyed by the fact that as the case states the film has been re-formatted to 4:3. However apparently the film was shot open matted (the process of shooting a film in 4:3 and then cropping it down to widescreen during projection) so we are actually seeing more then intended. WB has in the past released their bare bones discs double sided with both full frame and widescreen versions shame they couldn't do that for this film.
Unemployed lecturer, Yoon-ju, can't stand the noise made by the dogs in his apartment so he decides to kidnap and dispose of them. Hyun-nam who works close by catches him in the end and tries to save the next victim before it's too late.
I quickly became a fan of director Bong Joon-ho when I saw his incredible Memories of Murder. Barking Dogs Never Bite is his debut film, a dark comedy that i expect many animal lovers would find difficult to watch. This film along with his latest The Host confirms him as one of my favourite directors and one to keep an eye on.
Seven directors each create a short film around the theme of time. Ten Minutes Older: Trumpet featured many I had heard of but have yet to see films of so this made an excellent introduction to their works. Directors such as Wim Wenders, Aki Kaurismaki and Werner Herzog. I loved almost all the stories however I unfortunately was a bit disappointed with Jim Jarmuschs who was the sole reason I bought the film, I found the others more intriguingly. I also didn't have much interest in Spike Lees contribution, a documentary piece on the 2000 elections.
One of my favourite stories was Herzog's Ten Thousand Years Later a documentary about a Brazilian tribes decline over 20 years.
I'm a Cyborg, but that's OK - A girl who thinks she's a cyborg starves herself in a mental institute. A man who has the ability to steal intangible things tries to get her to eat. Director Park Chan-wooks first film after his 'vengence' trilogy (OldBoy) is an excellent and touching comedy.
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