Alt rock icons Pavement get the tongue-in-cheek tribute they deserve from Alex Ross Perry, who describes this as ‘not a Pavement documentary, but a Pavement movie.’
There’s definitely the thread of a classic rise-and-fall-and-return music doc in here, but it’s woven together with the opening of a new museum devoted to the band, rehearsals for Slanted! Enchanted! – a jukebox musical built from Stephen Malkmus’ lyrics – and the development of a would-be award-winning Pavement biopic starring Joe Keery from Stranger Things. The film opens with a split screen, the ‘best and most important band of all time’ simultaneously splitting up in 1999 and getting back together in 2022. From there we explore their suburban Californian roots, their eclectic influences (including Swell Maps) and their anointment as the ‘next Nirvana’ – a fate they avoided with consistently leftfield choices.
Mixed in with that story we find musical theatre types turning smartass songs into uplifting anthems, while the detritus of early Pavement is carefully laid out in vitrines at the (sadly fictional) New York museum.
Beneath all the irony this is a heartfelt celebration of some great music, and of the camaraderie and friction that produced it.
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