In the last month of 2025, Criterion has released a fairly recent movie to their ongoing collection. The movie is American Utopia, a 2020 Spike Lee directed concert film starring musician David Byrne. Released on HBOMax during the pandemic, American Utopia has received near unanimous praise. While some might see it being too soon to be released on Criterion, this is a strong entry from the company.
The Review
American Utopia started out as a studio album released by singer/songwriter David Byrne in 2018. After completing a tour in support of the album, Byrne brought the show to Broadway. This concert film documents one of those Broadway performances. In the concert film, Byrne and his band perform a good mix of songs throughout Byrne’s career. Whether it’s a Talking Heads song or a solo tune, Byrne and his band (who are all in matching suits and barefoot) perform them with great passion.
Inevitably, many are going to compare American Utopia to Stop Making Sense, the 1984 Jonathan Demme directed concert film the Talking Heads made. Stop Making Sense is still praised as one of the greatest concert films of all time, which features a strong performance from the band at the top of their game. While American Utopia has some similarities to Stop Making Sense, American Utopia is a different kind of concert film. Unlike Stop Making Sense, American Utopia has a consistent theme in both the show and the movie: America is what we make it.
Throughout the movie, Byrne serves as the narrator of the show. He talks to the audience, sharing with them facts about human beings and stories about his own life. Along with this, the show also takes on a political message, with Byrne pointing out how people have the power to change the country. In one part of the movie, he points out there many people in his band that are from all over the world,
“Most of us are immigrants” Byrne says before one song. “We couldn’t do without them.”
With each song that’s introduced, it makes American Utopia seem like a jukebox musical. In a way, it is: Byrne is taking his music and applying them to the theme of the show. Though unlike a jukebox musical, there’s no ongoing story attached to it. If anything, it’s more of a themed concert performance. Speaking of which, the music here is sensational. Most viewers will be familiar with the Talking Heads hits such as “Burning Down the House,” “Once In a Lifetime” and “This Must Be The Place.”
While the Talking Heads songs are performed well, the post Talking Heads material might stand out for other people. “I Should Watch TV” is wonderfully hypnotic while “Toe Jam” is pleasantly festive. The songs from the American Utopia album are also worth noting, the highlights being the joyful “Everybody’s Coming To My House” and the eerie “Bullet.” The most powerful performance, however, might be Byrne’s rendition of Janelle Monae’s “Hell You Talmbout.” Byrne and his band call out the names of people who were victims of violence, asking for the audience to say their names back. In the movie, the pictures of these people are seen as each name is mentioned. It’s simple in its concept yet impactful in its execution.
The Bonus Features
With this being a somewhat recent movie, American Utopia doesn’t have a bunch of bonus features. Still, they are worth noting:
– Making American Utopia, a new documentary on the making of the show/movie (55 minutes)
– A conversation between David Byrne and Spike Lee from 2020 (13 minutes)
– Essays from K. Austin Collins and Jia Tolentino
– Trailer
The documentary is brand new, featuring interview from Byrne and the people who worked on the show. It’s an informative feature, which gives insight to how the show was made. For a recent movie, there’s good amount of content provided here.
Conclusion
If you’re a fan of David Byrne and/or the Talking Heads, you’ll want to check this Criterion release out. As per usual with Criterion Collection releases, this should give you a new appreciation for the movie and the art of filmmaking. If the movie or release had any downsides, the movie just doesn’t reach the heights of Stop Making Sense. Then again, it doesn’t need to: American Utopia is its own unique piece of work.
Movie Rating: 7/10
Release Rating: 7/10
I'm a writer/journalist with a passion for music and pop culture. Having graduated from King's College in Wilkes-Barre, PA in 2014, I've been looking for a platform in which I can share my passions. Since 2009, I've been posting to my own blog- The Walrus' Music Blog- via Blogger. I'm also the author of two self-published books, "The Camp: Stories from the Summer" and "The College: Stories from King's." Together, the two books cover the story of my life from 2004 to 2014. I've been lucky enough to interview several of my favorite musicians over the years and go to concerts from time to time. I'm also very devoted to the CBS reality TV show Survivor, which I started watching in 2002 when its fourth season started. I currently live in New Jersey.