Pavements: A review

Pavements (Currently in repertoire cinemas check you local listings, streaming on Mubi July 11th 2025) 

Dir Alex Ross Perry (Her Smell, Listen Up Philip) 

Staring: Joe Keery, Jason Schwartzman, Tim Heidecker, Kathryn Gallagher, Michael Esper, and Zoe Lister-Jones, and as themselves: Stephen Malkmus, Scott 'Spiral Stairs' Kannberg, Mark Ibold, Steve West, and Bob Nastanovich

    I was a big fan of Alex Ross Perry’s Her Smell from 2019, with it making my list of one of the best films of the year. What I loved the most about the film is the raw energy Perry captures from the rockstar music scene, and behind the music with a great performance from Elisabeth Moss as Becky Something, a fictional rockstar on a downward spiral that rises from her former self in an attempt at a musical redemption. Having never really done a deep dive into the band Pavement, hearing only their major hits “Major League” and Spit on a Stranger” in indie sitcoms like How I Met Your Mother or Scrubs, this would be the essential film for me to understand the band. For this is more than a biopicture documentary for Perry, this is an ambitious love letter to the legacy of the band Pavement. The film is broken up into sections that go back and forth including the biopicture being filmed, “Range Life, Slanted! Enchanted!” a musical in production based around their music, a museum of the history and memorabilia of the band, archival footage and documentary footage of the band reuniting for a reunion concert. The spiritual essences of this film would be considered an experimental biopicture concert film, a daunting task for any director, but Perry is ambitious as the band he loves. 

When it comes to one of the most influential indie bands from the 90’s, Pavement, Alex Ross Perry had the idea for a straight up musical biopicture, titled Range Life, and a theatrical musical interpretive musical of the band. For Joe Kerry of Stranger Things fame,  it seems that it’s the opportunity of a lifetime to be Frontman Stephen Malkaus. He dives in deep in the role with the help of a dialect coach, even going so far as to getting an open mouth shot of Malkmus’s mouth to see how his pallet was shaped. Kerry explains that the process of the method acting he went through the same way that Austin Butler went through the process for Baz Lurham’s Elvis bio picture, never getting over Malkmus dialect and accent. Adding to Perry’s Pavement film would be the Jukebox Musical in development Slanted! Enchanted!, a musical set to the songs of Pavement, in the vein of the Broadway success of American Idiot, based on the Green Day Album, and Jagged Little Pill , based on the music of Alanis Morissette. For Perry, turning their songs into a musical makes sense because their songs can be transcended easily to a piece of art in a musical theatre experience. Pavement’s songs have a universal theme about human emotions, experiences and feelings. For sure, the dramatic interpretations make for a great story, but how does it reflect on the band’s legacy?

In between these dramatic interpretations of the band's work the film finds itself in a documentary, showcasing archival content and the band rehearsing for the first time in 12 years. In 1999, Pavement would break up only to perform again in 2010. The band would reunite in 2022 giving director Alex Ross Perry access to their rehearsals ahead of their comeback concert.  When the band visits the museum exhibition it turns out to be a reminiscing on the power of their songs, but also the ways the mechanism of the musical industry never understood the band besides waiting for the band to produce the platinum record or the problematic relationship with the media corporation. As well the band gets to see Range Life and Slanted! Enchanted! being made at the same time.  Maybe we can find that statement with one of their iconic song lyrics “I was dressed for success, but success it never comes.” 

Through the fictionalized account in Range Life and the archival footage and current documentary footage, Perry gets to the heart of the dynamic of the band. What we also see unbeknownst or known is that the pictures get the dramatization amped up for a more compelling story. Take the mud battle the band went through Lollapalooza 1999 at the fan’s discontent and we see the real archival footage of the band backstage brushing it off. In Range Life it’s set up as a pivotal dramatic moment when Joe Kerry’s Stephen Malkamus expresses his discontent with the audience reacting with the band wanting to split up. Pavements is more than the straight-up musical biopicture that drums up the sensationalism that we see in most musical biographical films; it turns out it’s a deep-felt love letter to the band which at times, may be misunderstood, but left a huge mark on the indie music scene. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Remi is the host of At The Movies Along regular Co-Host Danny Aubery every Tuesday morning from 8-9 AM only on CJLO 1690 AM. They cover local film festivals, have interviews with directors and actors, and talk about a new film or the classics. As well the iconic sounds of present and past film scores and soundtracks. Fallow Remi on Letterboxd.