Pavements

The cure for the common cosplay biopic, Alex Ross Perry’s Pavements straddles the line between loving chronicle and parody, ultimately getting at greater truths and richer laughs than either separate approach. The resulting mishmash of styles and traditions provides a fitting tribute to a band that refused to play by the rules and were essentially punished by mysterious forces whenever they did.

Other than the straightforward documentary elements that track Pavement’s origins and rise to indie rock prominence, it’s tough to know what’s legitimate and what Perry created for the sake of this genre-blurring experiment. But following the clues and coming to conclusions (or at least educated guesses) is central to the fun of Pavements and particularly rewarding for viewers sick of such rote exercises as A Complete Unknown.

Commentary on straightforward biopic clichés fully shine in the movie within the movie, Range Life. Starring Joe Keery as frontman Stephen Malkmus, the “film” also features Jason Schwartzman, Nat Wolff, Fred Hechinger, Logan Miller, Griffin Newman, and Tim Heidecker as bandmates and other figures key to Pavement’s history, and dramatizes such pivotal events as the band’s notorious Lolapalooza set as well as cornballing up far more trivial moments with unnatural dialogue and manipulative music. Simply restaging these experiences is an inspired bit of satire, and plentiful self-serious musings by Keery about his intense preparation for the role, how he hopes it impacts his career, and the lofty praise he receives from people on set pokes fun at the lengths “method” actors will go to “become” their subject.

In addition to the documentary and biopic elements is a chronicle of the off-Broadway jukebox show Slanted! Enchanted! A Pavement Musical and the exhibition Pavements 1933-2022: A Pavement Museum, featuring ephemera like an ex-Pavement member’s toenail that was shed at a gig (and found its way to a “private collector”). Both of these tangential creations likewise seem too strange to be true, but since it's Pavement, the ambiguity paradoxically suggests factual information and the dizzying uncertainty proves intoxicating.

Perry and his cast brilliantly present it all with a straight face and sell every detail, “staging” additional complementary components to further reinforce their creation as legit. In turn, the playful blend of known and unknown proves wholly fitting: Can we ever truly feel like we know artists — and should we even attempt to try? With Pavement, the answer is so clear that monkeying around with the usual formula is the only honest approach and leads to a multifaceted experience that honors its subject in a way few filmmakers have dared.

If there's a better film this year, it’ll be a shock.

Grade: A-plus. Not rated, but with adult themes and language. Now playing at Central Cinema in Knoxville.

(Photo: Utopia)