Pavements

“Well, show me a word that rhymes with pavement/And I won’t kill your parents and roast them on a spit.” When the Alex Ross Perrydirected video for Pavement’s “Harness Your Hopes” went viral on TikTok in 2020, it was an incongruous, yet somehow apt final act for the greatest band of the 1990s, who had, to quote lead singer Stephen Malkmus’ in “Fillmore Jive,” already “said good night to the rock and roll era.” But Bob Dylan continues to prove there are no final acts in rock and roll, and Perry’s maximalist wonder PAVEMENTS gives us at least four more: a documentary on Pavement’s 2022 reunion tour; the opening of a Pavement museum in New York; the rehearsals and mounting of Slanted! Enchanted! A Pavement Musical; and the making of RANGE LIFE, a biopic of the band. Arguably akin to four D.A. Pennebaker films unfolding simultaneously, PAVEMENTS boasts staggering non-linear editing by Robert Greene: its guiding principle is that for all the jumping around in time, space and genre, Pavement’s music progresses chronologically. Musical docs—or whatever you want to call this singular film—have rarely been as invigorating. In the end, you’ll care about the band more than they pretend not to care about themselves. (Mark Peranson)

Alex Ross Perry: Filmografie IMPOLEX (2009), THE COLOR WHEEL (2011), LISTEN UP PHILIP (2014), QUEEN OF EARTH (2015), GOLDEN EXITS (2017), HER SMELL (2018)