Pavements

The iconic, ironic ‘90s slacker-rock band Pavement gets its own appropriately wry and subversive music doc in the latest from indie-film iconoclast Alex Ross Perry (Listen Up Philip, Her Smell). Famous for their 1994 hit “Cut Your Hair” (“songs mean a lot / when songs are bought”), the band, known for its lo-fi sound and ingenious lyrics, was heralded by critics and sparked a cult following. But the mainstream always remained elusive.

In Pavements, Perry envisions an alternative reality where mercurial frontman Stephen Malkmus and the other members of the band are the subjects of a hot Hollywood biopic, an off-Broadway jukebox musical, and a pop-up museum exhibition, which all seem to be actually happening. Or are they? With hilarious making-of scenes featuring Jason Schwartzman and Tim Heidecker as record executives and Joe Keery as Malkmus, Pavements manages to be both a heartfelt tribute to the band and an absurdist deconstruction. It’s the ultimate movie adaptation of the sequel to their lives.

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