Originally published in The Daily Nebraskan, 4-1-14
Home
is where I want to be
but I guess I’m already there
I come
home
she lifted up her wings
I guess that this must be the place
These
are lyrics from The Talking Heads’ song “This Must Be the Place.” They
have been playing over and over in my head since I watched Paolo
Sorrentino’s “This Must Be the Place” during spring break. The film
takes its title from the song, which plays several times throughout the
movie in different forms and renditions.
This film is so good,
I don't know why I didn’t hear about it sooner. Sean Penn is Cheyenne, an
aging rock star who still does his stage makeup every single day. His
hair is a ragged paintbrush of black hair – he’s always blowing away
that one strand that won’t stay put. Cheyenne speaks everything in a
gentle murmur, always barely above a whisper. His walking is more like
shuffling. On his bad days, he may be mistaken for an old woman.
Simply
seeing Sean Penn made up in this way is enough to fuel plenty of silent
giggles. He looks like a cross between Ozzy Osbourne and Bono’s
grandmother, with just a sprinkling of Robert Smith for some edge.
Cheyenne
has a mostly quiet life. He lives in Dublin with his wife (Frances
McDormand) and visits with a fan (Eve Hewson) on occasion, but he’s
haunted by the memory of two young boys who killed themselves because of
his music. He tries to visit their graves but is turned away by the
boys’ parents and told he’s not welcome. One day, Cheyenne hears his
father is dying. He goes to visit his father at his deathbed but arrives
too late. Cheyenne tries to appease his guilt by seeking out a Nazi
officer who tormented his father during the Holocaust. What follows is
Cheyenne’s journey to the United States to find the Nazi, and he meets
many curious characters in his travels.

Sorrentino’s most recent
film, “The Great Beauty,” won an Academy Award and was praised for its
rich visual style. Looking at “This Must Be the Place,” one can see
hints of the visual splendor to come in Sorrentino’s work. This
cinematography in “This Must Be the Place” is spotless. Dolly shots and
long takes are used to great effect. The camera swoops gracefully over
an idle neighborhood to reveal several characters. We dolly between two
characters and gaze down a huge chasm as their conversation grows more
distant. Graceful, engaging shots bloom left and right, highlighting
Cheyenne’s struggle and the sheltered world he inhabits.

A scene
about halfway through the film is shot as one long take. It’s a long,
gradual dolly back over a David Byrne concert, and it starts as a shot
of a woman sitting in a ’50s style living room, thumbing through a
magazine and tapping her foot to the opening strings of “This Must Be
the Place.” It’s a bit disconcerting at first, until we realize that
this is part of a musical performance. The camera keeps slowly pulling
back, revealing the players on the stage and then David Byrne himself,
who starts to sing the song that resonates throughout the rest of the
film.
Gradually, the living room set behind the performers tilts
vertically, hanging above the stage. The camera has stopped moving
backwards. The living room set now moves slowly over the performers and
towards the camera, now hanging sideways, with the woman still somehow
sitting in the chair and reading the magazine. It comes to fill up half
the screen, then the camera turns to face the crowd, slowly moving
towards Cheyenne, the only still figure in the crowd, with a forlorn
expression on his face. David Byrne’s rendition of “This Must Be the
Place” works perfectly with the scene.

That shot goes on for three
minutes, and it’s just one of many beautiful visions in “This Must Be
the Place.” It’s a nuanced visual construction that utilizes all the
tools of cinema at once. It’s one of those shots that opens and closes
repeatedly in your memory, calling you to watch it again. The whole film
and all of its images leave this impression on me. It does what many of
the best films do, which is capture a state of mind in images and
music. Penn is at the core of this film. At the tail end of the
aforementioned scene, staring into the camera with eyes that tell us all
we need to know, and yet nothing.
No easy words came when trying
to write about this film. It’s not a film that wears its heart on its
sleeve. In this way, “This Must Be the Place” is much like its central
character. It’s curious, dryly funny, subtle, puzzling and a delight to
watch. Like Cheyenne, this movie may also be genius. I have only seen it
once, but I have no doubt that my appreciation of “This Must Be the
Place” will grow with time. Whenever I see a great film that can
surprise, delight and puzzle me, I feel like I’m home. I guess this must
be the place.