Storefront Hitchcock

Robyn Hitchcock sings inside an empty shop in Manhattan, standing in front of the display window. The street is behind him: passers-by, cars, and now and then someone looking in. There is no stage, no audience in frame, and between songs Hitchcock turns to the camera and tells nonsensical stories. The subject is not a concert but a musician left alone with his own strangeness. The talk between songs does not sound like prepared material; most of it goes nowhere, and the film does not cut it. The form is the concert film at its plainest: guitar, harmonica, a couple of guest players, one location. Jonathan Demme barely moves the camera, and his biggest choice is to let the street behind stay alive. It is the least known of Demme's concert films, deliberately small next to the scale of Stop Making Sense. The same method still works: no dressing on the stage, the musician shown full length and uninterrupted. Deni Bonet and Tim Keegan accompany him on some songs. Who it is for: people who know Hitchcock's music and like minimal concert films. Who it is not for: anyone starting without knowing the musician; the film offers no introduction and begins in the middle.