'Pavements' A Review

Pavements is an experimental rockdoc about the indie rock band Pavement. Through archival footage, a fake musical biopic, a real off-Broadway jukebox musical, a touring museum exhibit featuring memorabilia from the band, and behind-the-scenes footage of their 2022 reunion a hodge-podge piece of art is presented. More resembling something you'd see at a museum of contemporary art rather than a cogent piece of cinema.

The editing is near incessant and absolutely relentless and Pavement's indie rock droning underscores the entire movie and actual information about the band, some of which is true some of which is not, is scant. This is definitely an artsy vibe film and probably only accessible for people who are or were fans of the band. As someone who knew none of their music and nothing about the band it struck me as incredibly pretentious, off-putting, insular, and grating. With some actual context maybe it's a very accurate and moving celebration of the band, I wouldn't know!

It's very ambitious and there is a lot going on both from a filmmaking perspective and thematically. There's a mile-long streak of post-modern irony but also, seemingly, actual sincerity from famous people talking about how much the band means to them(one of whom is Tim Heidecker so maybe this too is supposed to be tongue-in-cheek). With no prior knowledge of the band it's impossible to tell.

With a lot of fandom going mainstream this seems like a reaction to that, a movie only for the fans of this underground band, made specifically impenetrable and fair enough but it doesn't translate as a film for people to enjoy outside of that and as such a cinematic failure.

For Pavement fans only.

Currently in theaters.

Don't See It.