So, in a way, for me it’s just having that be your North Pole as a filmmaker, that modeling they did for so many people, that’s sort of what I wanted to include and say. And True Stories is a great example of that—more than Stop Making Sense, because that’s like a Jonathan Demme version of the band. To me, True Stories is much more like their music and all of the concerns of their music. There’s a fearlessness to the Talking Heads. A dedication to change. A dedication to not doing things in the standard way. A dedication to breaking the rules.
It sounds so stupid, but to me while this video seems very much like something I would do, it’s also like I’m breaking the rules of how to tell a story or how to make a character. I’m breaking the rules of what a video is. And all of those things make me feel warm and fuzzy inside, like I’m doing the right things. So I feel very indebted to the Talking Heads for modeling that to me for many years in such a positive, fun, danceable way. What’s fucking better than that? That’s amazing.
That’s wonderful to hear, because I think something that stands out from your movies is it always feels immediately like you’re watching a Mike Mills movie, and so much of that comes from the way you play with form. That sort of collage-like structure, where it can be straightforward one scene, and then jump into another perspective in the next, or a flashback here, or “Oh, here’s like a three minute slide of various still images with narration over top.”
Yeah, yeah, yeah. When you’re saying all of that, it also makes me think of [Jean-Luc] Godard, right? A lot of those ideas are very Godard-y. When I was starting, I went to Kim’s Video and went through the Godard shelf religiously. On some levels, not on a lot of levels, but on some levels, Godard and Talking Heads are very similar. They have a lot of similar concerns, a lot of similar playfulness, and just a curiosity about the structure that they’re in. So those things have a lot of kismet for me.
I’ll say this. I went to art school and I’m a filmmaker and I’ve done a lot of graphic design, right? All those things have weaker magical powers than music does. Music is a more spiritual, higher, more somatic, more powerful medium that I’m not as good at, but I’m always chasing. Like the podcast I did with David, I remember we talked a lot about how I listen to music constantly when I’m writing as a guide, or as company in this lonely project of writing, or as an emotional compass where I’m following this energy. And it could be one song for weeks, just on a loop. And if you’re like me, and you lean on being rational rather than irrational, and you lean on being a good person rather than a full person, music can really help enchant you out of your own squareness.
I’ve also been thinking, I’m 59 now. I’m thinking a lot about everything I saw in college, like 8½ or Chantal Akerman or whatever, and it’s so impactful. You’re so ripe to be seeded, you know? The Talking Heads just hit me at such a pivotal point of my figuring out my life and my creative life and what’s what.
