David Byrne’s American Utopia
Home Box Office (HBO) | Release Date (Streaming): October 17, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
93
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
27
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
EmpireBeth WebbDec 17, 2020
Bolstered by Lee’s trenchant, intimate direction, Byrne reframes a peerless setlist of songs as a testament to hope and humanity that implores himself and his audience to keep going. A much-needed source of comfort and joy. Read full review
100
The Associated PressJocelyn NoveckOct 19, 2020
This hypnotic film experience is a badly needed shot in the arm for all of us — music lovers, theater lovers, dance lovers, culture lovers, life lovers. It’s also one of the best concert films in recent memory. Read full review
100
TimeStephanie ZacharekOct 16, 2020
A work of great joy and expressiveness, a tower of song with room for everybody. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesGlenn WhippOct 16, 2020
American Utopia arrives 36 years after Jonathan Demme’s “Stop Making Sense,” which documented three shows the Talking Heads played at Hollywood’s Pantages Theater in 1983 and just might be the greatest concert movie ever made. Until, that is, American Utopia. Rank them 1A and 1B. Read full review
100
The New York TimesManohla DargisOct 15, 2020
Some filmed stage shows die on the screen from a sheer lack of visual energy and invention. Lee, a master of the art, uses cinema’s plasticity to complement this production, making it come alive in two dimensions. Read full review
100
Washington PostAnn HornadayOct 14, 2020
In American Utopia, Lee brings the same insight and sensitivity to Byrne’s stage show, which bursts forth with an exuberant mixture of optimistic joy and wistful nostalgia. Read full review
100
Vanity FairJordan HoffmanSep 17, 2020
American Utopia is an outstanding collaboration between two essential artists; I can’t believe there’s anyone alive who won’t be moved by this document. Byrne’s career is a testament to never resting on one’s laurels, to always searching for creative expansion—but more than anything, American Utopia proves how electrifying he still is as a performer. Same as it ever was. Read full review
100
UproxxMike RyanSep 10, 2020
There’s something whimsical and magical about the whole thing. It is designed to make the viewer feel good. Read full review
100
The PlaylistRobert DanielsSep 10, 2020
David Byrne’s American Utopia is an ideal world; it’s exhilarating and joyful; and Byrne and Lee actually do make a perfect pair. Read full review
100
VarietyOwen GleibermanSep 10, 2020
There’s nothing ironic about the title of American Utopia. It’s David Byrne and Spike Lee reveling in the majesty, and hidden magic, of the here and now. Read full review
100
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneySep 10, 2020
Lee's knack for distilling the energy of live performance is no secret, for example in his terrific 2009 film of the unconventional Broadway musical Passing Strange. But the synergy here between filmmaker and subject — from the avant-funk grooves to the spirit of inclusivity and the urge to heal a broken nation — is simply spectacular. Read full review
100
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoSep 10, 2020
David Byrne’s American Utopia is a joyous expression of art, empathy, and compassion. Read full review
100
IndieWireDavid EhrlichSep 10, 2020
American Utopia isn’t just a concert doc, but also a life-affirming, euphoria-producing, soul-energizing sing-along protest film that’s asking us to rise up against our own complacency. Read full review
98
PolygonKaren HanSep 16, 2020
American Utopia will last past the current moment, past the pandemic, but in the cultural context of its upcoming release, it feels both like an electric current and a balm. Read full review
91
ConsequenceJoe LipsettSep 11, 2020
It is as much a celebration of song and contemporary dance as it is a call to action about the need to embrace our humanity and connect with others. Quite simply: it’s a joy. Read full review
90
New York Magazine (Vulture)Jen ChaneyOct 14, 2020
If your mind has opened even a little by the time American Utopia is over, that is a testament to what publicly presented art can do and why its absence is so deeply felt right now. Read full review
90
SlashfilmChris EvangelistaSep 10, 2020
It is an overall joyous experience – infectious, you could say. Even if you don’t love all of the songs – there were a few that did nothing for me, I’ll admit – you’ll get swept up in the energy radiating from Byrne and his group, all of them throwing themselves into this strange, surreal, beautiful show. Read full review
88
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenOct 13, 2020
This is a work that thrums equally with Dada despair and do-the-right-thing agitprop, while somehow still managing to culminate in liberating exuberance. If American Utopia paints a doomsday scenario of the state of the union, it also offers joyous hope for a national rebirth. Read full review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzOct 13, 2020
From its joyful and exuberant opening half to a late-game moment of deep and sombre introspection, Lee’s version of American Utopia is thoughtful pop performance art captured with the propulsive power of cinema. Read full review
88
Slant MagazinePat BrownSep 12, 2020
American Utopia feels as much like a balm as it is a surprisingly direct call to political action and social betterment. Read full review
85
TheWrapSteve PondSep 10, 2020
Like all of Byrne’s work, it is sly performance art masquerading as rock ‘n’ roll, or maybe it’s sly rock ‘n’ roll masquerading as performance art; definitions are elusive but the impact is both cerebral and visceral, just the way Byrne likes it. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Sep 10, 2020
The film has its own celebratory, eccentric identity. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattSep 10, 2020
Lee's hand in all this seems to be a light one; aside from his intimate but unobtrusive camerawork, the show appears essentially unaltered from the live performance. Read full review
80
The Observer (UK)Simran HansDec 21, 2020
There aren’t any isolated moments as cinematic as Byrne’s tender lamp dance in Jonathan Demme’s 1984 concert film Stop Making Sense, but the director’s playfulness is felt. Read full review
80
Rolling StoneK. Austin CollinsOct 15, 2020
Like the late Jonathan Demme, director of Stop Making Sense, Lee is here not just to document but to heighten. There are close-ups on Byrne’s face, his eyes, even his feet; dynamic roving views from onstage and off; a keen awareness of the audience. And, of course, there’s the thrill of seeing people standing up in their seats, clapping along, silhouetted against Byrne’s bright, inviting presence onstage. All of it lends a sense of alive-ness to this live performance. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawSep 11, 2020
There is no moment where Byrne dramatically opens up, either on stage or off, but perhaps that’s not the point. It’s a treat for Byrne fans, and could well make converts. Read full review
80
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganSep 10, 2020
Byrne pops around the stage like a man rejuvenated, or perhaps one who has never aged, without as much as breaking a sweat. How wonderful for it all to be the same as it ever was. Read full review
50
The Film StageNick NewmanSep 16, 2020
Great concert films impose a directorial presence onto player and stage alike, but Lee and team seem more content to record. Read full review
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