Pavements Movie Review: A Whip Smart, Against the Grain Bio-Doc

 

Fans of 1990s indie rock sensation Pavement will know, and non-fans will quickly learn through this film that this group is far from self serious. There's a sense of humour that comes with their music, performance and persona that strays away from the norm and any interest in the concept of traditional fame. When the group was ready to have a documentary made about them, they wanted to ensure a non-documentary filmmaker would be attached. Any filmmaker who tends to make a traditional music documentary with talking heads and a rise and fall narrative with a hagiographic tone. In came Alex Ross Perry - mid 2010s American independent filmmaker on a very similar wavelength, known for Her Smell, Listen Up Philip and Golden Exits. What ensues is a chaotic, sometimes fabricated but always unique telling of the Pavement story - and those looking for a wholly unique bio-doc will be left giddy with what's been accomplished.

The film follows Pavement through a series of concurrent events happening in alignment with their legacy in 2022. We follow the sometimes-scripted workshopping of an original Pavement musical titled Slanted Enchanted, whose New York performances were totally real. Similarly, we follow the not-always trustworthy creations of the very much existent Pavement museum in NYC. The seeming selling point of the film is the creation of Pavement's very own biopic, which is the segment of the film taking full creative liberty and fabrication. The next generation of young actors inclusive of Joe Keery, Fred Hechinger, Nat Wolff, Logan Miller and Blank Check Podcast's Griffin Newman are followed through their satirical look at the filmmaking process. It's a very intentionally poorly scripted narrative retelling of the Pavement story titled Range Life - of which we see fully constructed sequences within the documentary.

The film requires one of two active types of viewing from an audience member - one, an awareness of the band's lack of earnestness and an existing love for them. On the contrary, an uninformed audience member needs to be willing to insert themselves into this chaos without questioning, and a willingness to enjoy the ride. Those looking for something traditional, or something that teaches them about Pavement and their history won't get it here. The film satisfies in plenty other regards, including some very impressive editing, with some of these sequences often playing over each other or in split screen to a beautiful, symphonic effect. The film is quite funny - particularly, sequences with Joe Keery going method his own way and some of the fake b-roll on the production of Range Life got some big laughs at the Departure Fest screening in Toronto. But most importantly, the strong influence from and love for Pavement from everyone involved here is intensely tangible, and felt through every second of screen time. 

Anyone who has read about or been told about this film has likely heard one thing - that it's indescribable. To an extent, it is - it's mostly hard to sell because it comes with a feeling. The way the fully assembled collage of scripted scenes, archives, interviews and more aren't remarkable for their parts, but rather, the loving and captivating tribute it sums to. If you're a fan of the band, a fan of Perry or that style of filmmaking, or even a fan of one of the performers in Range Life - you're bound to at least get something out of this wholly original and enamouring tribute.

Rating: 8/10

Pavements will screen in Toronto as part of Hot Docs Truth or Dare series on May 17th at 7:30pm, and tickets can be bought here:

https://hotdocs.ca/whats-on/films/pavements

It will also have a run at the Fox Theatre beginning May 16th, and tickets for those screenings can be bought here:

https://hotdocs.ca/whats-on/films/pavements

Additionally, Pavements will be on Mubi Canada this summer.