Pavements Review

It’s a daunting task to add a new music biopic to the award-winning roster of films like Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman or zany parodies like Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story—all of which are referenced in Alex Ross Perry’s Pavements. As the title suggests, Perry dives into the history of the popular 90s indie rock band and their continued popularity after reuniting in the 2020s.

The result blurs the line between being a documentary and a biopic, allowing the movie to honor the hard-to-pin-down band in the best way possible. At the start, Perry establishes the fact that not only is Pavement back together as a band, but he is directing an off-kilter theatrical experience titled Slanted! Enchanted! A Pavement Musical and a pretend biopic of the band called Range Life.

Throughout the film, footage from the latter plays, serving as a form of meta-comedy. Actor The Substance.

As those who appear in the film point out, Pavement, at the time of their rise, was a band for the weirdos who didn’t feel connected to Nirvana or Oasis. Because of this, Perry feels just as tapped into the modern alternative culture and the New York scene, whether it’s including actress Zoe Lister-Jones (Beau Is Afraid) in the musical’s prominent role or having comedian Tim Heidecker appear as a manager-type in Range Life.

If we’re using Heidecker’s comedic style as an example, he serves as a fitting comparison for the film’s style. This is most prevalent probably during the scenes at a museum pop-up in Pavement’s honor, which also launched during the filming process. A nod to Malkmus’ time as a security guard at The Whitney, the artifacts on display tell a story that is both fact and fiction, intended for you to gain your own interpretation. Sure, some of Malkmus’ notebook pages were there, but then so were some of the band ’ dirty clothes, somehow preserved and never washed from the infamous mud-throwing incident of Lollapalooza 1995.

The show is featured through archival footage and comedically recreated as Keery has mud thrown at him while in front of a green screen. Because of this, the musical, and clips from Pavement’s various reunion shows around the globe, there is no shortage of performances either, providing an understanding of the band’s work and mindset across various albums. (There are even a few Beavis and Butthead clips, edited to feel like you’ve taken a time machine back to the band’s youthful era.)

Perry’s Pavements could have alienated those unfamiliar with the titular band, but thankfully, it doesn’t. Instead, it allows them to learn, love, and be included in the jokes, which is really all you can ask for from a music documentary.