Pavements

With their 2022 reunion tour on the horizon, filmmaker Alex Ross Perry ("Her Smell") decides to document his favorite band with a semi-fictional approach that presents us with multiple "Pavements."

Laura's Review: A-

Alex Ross Perry has devised a documentary that combines the surreal unreality of Nathan Fiedler's 'The Rehearsal' with the Russian doll staged arts approach of Wes Anderson's "Asteroid City," then goes a step farther by staging his tongue-in-cheek homages to live audiences with a Pavement museum full of artifacts real and not making a world tour and 'Slanted! Enchanted!,' a jukebox musical starring Michael Esper (Broadway's 'American Idiot'), Zoe Lister-Jones ("Band Aid") and Kathryn Gallagher (Broadway's 'Jagged Little Pill'), workshopped for two nights in New York. There is also a Hollywood biopic, 'Range Life,' which 'Stranger Things' Joe Keery hopes might bring him awards recognition for his starring role as Pavement's singer/guitarist Stephen Malkmus, that resulted in a trailer (and a preview screening in Brooklyn which sounded like an early cut of "Pavements").

Perry kicks off by telling us that 'the world's most important and influential band' broke up in 1999, but it was 'no big deal.' But Stephen Malkmus, guitarist Scott Kannberg aka 'Spiral Stairs,' bassist Mark Ibold, second drummer Steve West and 'another member of Pavement,' Bob Nastanovich, are reuniting along with a new sixth member Rebecca Cole and are in rehearsal for a world tour. Amidst all the humorous shenanigans accompanying this, Perry gives us something like a traditional history of the band, which formed in Stockton 'the Cleveland of California.'  Malkmus originally thought it would be radical to have no bass, but came to the conclusion that was not so. Things really begin to take off when the band hits NYC in 1990, Malkmus and West becoming security guards at the Whitney Museum (Keery visits the space, now housing another museum, and appears perplexed that there is no Pavement section in its gift shop). There are multiple interview snippets, mostly with Malkus, talking about the band's career approach, one in which money and fame played no part, and their controversial spat with Smashing Pumpkins. We'll witness Beavis and Butthead react to 'Rattled by the Rush' with 'Oh no, not another one of these' and 'they need to try harder.'

The most jaw-dropping parts of "Pavements," though, are the way Perry and his editor Robert Greene have integrated performances by Pavement, their counterparts from the musical and the Range Life 'movie' into a cohesive whole using devices like split screens and superimposition. Other highlights include seeing the mud and rock-pelting incident from 1995's Lollapalooza recreated with Keery in front of a green screen and the reverence with which Pavement 'artifacts' are presented in glass cases with printed museum cards (fake items include such things as Pavement Absolut vodka and 'Think Different' Apple ads).

Rest assured that you do not have to be familiar with Pavement to enjoy what Perry's done here. While I was familiar with just about every other band mentioned in this documentary, I only had name recognition of Pavement, yet laughed heartily throughout when I wasn't enjoying the music. "Pavements" is an inspired labor of love, a documentary befitting its quirky subject.

Robin's Review: B+

In the 1990s, the band Pavement had some middling success, though I had never heard of them. Documentary director Alex Ross Perry shows us those early days and brings us up to date with a unique imagining of the band, past and present, in “Pavements.”

I read a description for this clever amalgamation of fact and fiction and it fits the film perfectly - experimental docufiction. The story about the band, their music and their “fame” in the 90s and early 2000s and is done in a normal documentary way things seem to go along in as prescribed. Then, director Perry and his crew create something quite unusual.

The lines between the reality of the band in its early says and the modern day imagining of their life after break-up blur as the filmmakers go back and forth in Pavement “history.” The modern day “band” has a stage show, a museum honoring things like a band member’s toenail, a musical in the works, a planned tour and are imaginative, tongue-in-cheek creations that pokes fun at the music industry - and the band, too, but all in good-natured and fun way. Their 2022 reunion, though, was real.

I may have absolutely no previous knowledge of Pavement and what I heard made me go “meh,” but there is, apparently, a loyal fan-base dedicated to the band. “Pavements” is aimed directly at that base and it hits its mark in the jumble of reality and fiction.

“Pavements” will not likely develop a new fan following for the band but, if their faux grunge rock and roll appeals to you, you will be exposed to an a true experimental docufiction that the viewer, fan or not, will find entertaining.

Utopia released "pavements" in New York on 5/2/25 with a rollout to follow. Click here for theaters and play dates.