Ride, Rise, Roar (2010)

Director:

Hillman Curtis

Release Date:

21 January 2011 (Ireland)

Genre:

Documentary | Music

Plot:

This feature-length documentary profiles David Byrne - famous lead vocalist of the former band Talking Heads...

Cast

Lily Baldwin	...	Herself
David Byrne
Layla Childs	...	Herself
Mark De Gli Antoni	...	Himself
Brian Eno	...	Himself
Paul Frazier	...	Himself
Red Ray Frazier	...	Himself
Graham Hawthorne	...	Himself
Kaissa	...	Herself
Natalie Kuhn	...	Herself
Nomie Lafrance	...	Herself
Jenni Muldaur	...	Herself
Annie-B. Parson	...	Herself
Mauro Refosco	...	Himself
Steven Reker	...	Himself
Sonya Robbins	...	Herself

Directed by
Hillman Curtis

Produced by
Will Schluter	....	producer
Ben Wolf	....	co-producer

Cinematography by
Ben Wolf

Film Editing by
Matt Boyd		(co-editor)

Production Design by
Jon Pollak

Sound Department
Patrick Dillett	....	sound re-recording mixer
Ruy García	....	sound supervisor
Greg Thompson	....	sound re-recording mixer

Camera and Electrical Department
Keith Collea	....	d.i.t. tech
Thomas Fishwick	....	first assistant camera
Alex Kornreich	....	first assistant camera: "b" camera
Marshall Stief	....	camera operator
Daniel Taylor	....	camera pa

Editorial Department
Kristin Bye	....	assistant editor
Jim Geduldick	....	digital intermediate editor
Robbie Renfrow	....	digital intermediate colorist
Benjamin Moses Smith	....	digital intermediate conform editor

Thanks
Steve Kovacs	....	special thanks
Arianna Orland	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Hillmancurtis
• Ravel Films
• Topiary Productions

Distributors

• UPLINK Company (2011) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2011) (Australia) (all media)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2011) (Australia) (video) (VOD)

Other Companies

• Offhollywood Digital  digital intermediate by
• Shoot Blue  camera equipment provided by

Also Known As:

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Ireland:12A | Singapore:PG13

Company:

Hillmancurtis

Ride, Rise, Bore

Anyone with any sense would not go to this movie expecting Talking Heads. Byrne hasn't been a TH for twenty years and has I expect tried to move on, branch out and create new works of art. Unfortunately, as he accepted in the Q&A broadcast with Paul Morley, Stop Making Sense has proved to be an albatross around his neck for the past 30 years. And this documentary has him clutching at musical straws. The inclusion of interpretive dancers, is perhaps his greatest faux pas. Although put together by ground-breaking choreographers the result is amateur. The aim to get the backing singers and dancers to cross boundaries and become what they are not makes for some particularly painful results, especially when one of the dancers is allowed not only to hold a guitar (which is gruesome itself when the dancers perform holding electric guitars), but is allowed to play on one of Byrne's newer tracks, Holy Moly! And dancing like geriatrics on office chairs good god, what was he thinking? The musical parts of the documentary are lacklustre, the band feel like they are going through the motions, and the revamped Head's track's do little except show how fantastic Stop Making Sense was, and the newer Byrne and Eno tracks just drift. Making music via email may sound modern and exciting but the results are uninspiring and dull, if not a little cringeworthy. This perhaps the first time I have seen Brian Eno and thought he's lost the plot.

As Paul Morley delicately suggested during the Q&A, the energy a pop musician has when they are young results in magnificent works of art but maybe as the artist becomes older, is more comfortable and less energised, their work fails to live up to the promise of their early years. Nothing could be truer if this documentary is anything to go by. The film making unfortunately does nothing to improve the cinematic experience, either. The talky parts are in black and white, the music in colour...wow! As a piece of concert footage Curtis shows he is no Demme, the editing is pedestrian, the choice of shots uninspiring, and the talky parts of the film were not very interesting.

A truly, truly dull film.