issue 9// vol 47 Making connections face to face » ‘American Utopia’ Review Jerrison Oracion Senior Columnist wkweK KY Tenn Heads are being heard a lot in the year 2020. Earlier last summer, I watched the concert film that they > ‘On the Rocks’ review Jerrison Oracion Senior Columnist wkweK KY M: favourite film of all time is Sofia Coppola’s 2003 Academy Award winning film Lost in Translation. It got me interested in going to Tokyo with its shots of the city. Additionally, Coppola’s screenplay has moments that are smart and well-timed if you are patient. The film is also the beginning of her collaborations with Bill Murray; both of them would work together again in the 2015 Netflix Christmas special A Very Murray Christmas and on her next film On the Rocks—which was first a limited release and later made available to everyone on Apple TV+. Rashida Jones, who was also in.A Very Murray Christmas, is in the film as well. If you did not enjoy A Very Murray Christmas since it has Christmas-special-type moments, you may not enjoy the humour of On the Rocks—though older viewers will get some of Murray’s jokes throughout. Laura Keane (Rashida Jones) is happily married to Dean (Marlon Wayans) with their two children living in New York City. When Dean starts to get very successful at his job he begins working outside and seeing more people including women; thus, Laura is not sure if her husband is dating one of his co-workers. She asks her rich father, Felix (Bill Murray), to help her investigate in a search that leads to Laura questioning if her father is helping her to made—Stop Making Sense directed by Jonathan Demme—showing the band at its peak and how they might have inspired Arcade Fire. The band’s songs were also heard in various commercials for shows on Amazon Prime Video. When I watched David Byrne (the former lead member of the band) perform find out what Dean has been doing in his job recently. The film takes place through a period of a week and every day begins ina similar way, which can be repetitive. It does have moments where a serious conversation is occurring and then, unexpectedly, something funny happens. We do see a lot of scenes that take place with Laura and Felix drinking martinis in a restaurant or a bar—and they are typically darkly lit. This style is seen frequently in Coppola’s modern films. There were on Saturday Night Live in February, | thought that the band was reuniting; instead it featured the musical, American Utopia, that he made and was performing on Broadway. The musical—which is based on Byrne’s recent solo album of the same name—had a limited run and ended a month before the coronavirus pandemic began. While the musical may possibly be performed again next year depending on what happens with the pandemic, Spike Lee was able to film a performance of it and the film version of the musical aired on HBO last month on October 17. Ido not knowa lot about the history of Talking Heads but watching it was like watching a Paul McCartney concert after he abandoned The Beatles, like Byrne may have abandoned his band. The musical is a lecture where Byrne talks about connections as well as the major events that are happening right now—especially on Donald Trump and African Americans. It has Promotional image for 'David Byrne's American Utopia’ via HBO Pos a lot of beautiful shots of New York City throughout the film and some of them showed places that were also shown in A Very Murray Christmas. Coppola’s use of the music of Phoenix in her films and her collaborations with the French band (who also did the score of the film) show that Coppola is a big fan. Because this film airs on Apple TV+, there is a lot of product placement of Apple products throughout the film where all of the people in the film use iPhones, Laura arts // no. 9 is better acontemporary dance look, and the set is almost empty with just him, two dancers, and his band. All of them wear the signature suit that Byrne wears in his concerts with Talking Heads and the entire cast is diverse: one of the bongo players in the band, Stephane San Juan, is from Toronto. Byrne is also a naturalized citizen who immigrated from Scotland. The musical additionally has songs from the band, Byrne’s solo career, and a cover of a song by Janelle Monae. The band’s songs as well as Byrne’s solo music have an alternative sound combined with a Caribbean beat, much like world fusion music. At times, the cast would perform in a chorus line before suddenly stopping and then dancing with no music. There were sections in the musical which tackled topics that were powerful and I will delve deeper into them in a future story. In Stop Making Sense, the set of the concert is being built as it progresses— slightly similar to American Utopia where the drapes are lifted near the end of it. There were moments in both films where Byrne would stumble and sing near a lightbulb. Before and after performances, Byrne and the rest of the cast would cycle to and from their apartments to the theatre. American Utopia is available on HBO Max and Crave. Promotional image for 'On the Rocks' via Apple uses an iMac at work, and Coppola likely edited the film on a Mac. Compared to Lost in Translation, where Bob is a father figure to Charlotte, Felix is more like an investigator to Laura than a father figure. Jones’ and Wayans’ acting in the film is great, and Wayans was surprisingly funny. On the Rocks is the father-and- daughter film that can be surprisingly funny if you are patient, and you may even get some of the jokes in it. On the Rocks is available now on Apple TV+.