Made in Texas film series continues with "True Stories"

Photo: Stephanie Obodda

"But this place is completely normal." So says David Byrne, writer, director, and narrator of the 1986 movie, "True Stories", the ironically named chronicle of the fictional Texas town of Virgil on its 150 year anniversary. Byrne claims all the stories in the movie are based on things he read out of the newspaper; banal stories about the oddities of small town life in Texas. But the dream-like sequences and wacky characterizations make this movie seem like "Our Town" on acid. The movie stars John Goodman, the late Spalding Grey, and at least 50 sets of twins (eat your heart out, Doublemint gum).

"True Stories" will be shown at the Bob Bullock Texas State History museum as a part of the Made in Texas film series, a program of the Austin Film Festival sponsored by the Texas film commission. This is the fourth in a series of six films that will be screened throughout the summer which were either made by a Texas filmmaker or shot in Texas ("True Stories" was filmed primarily in Dallas and Red Oak).

Reviews for the film are mixed, although consensus seems to indicate that it's not all that bad. The fact that the movie features a lot of music from the Talking Heads, the band Byrne helped found in the early 70's, helps considerably, and both celebrated critic Roger Ebert and the more eclectic community-based rottentomatoes.com give it favorable reviews.

What: Screening of "True Stories," part of the Made in Texas film series
When: July 8th, 2009, 7:30pm
Where: Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, 1800 Congress Ave, Austin, TX
Cost: $5 for general public, free for AFF or TSHM members

For more info:

AFF event information

Rotten Tomatoes review