‘Pavements’ Review: Alex Ross Perry’s Slacker Music Portrait Puts a Sweet, Meta Spin on the Rock Doc

‘Pavements’: A Sly Ode to the Last Band You’d Give the Biopic Treatment

Everybody thinks they know their favorite musicians or bands inside and out: what the lyrics mean, when their style changed, which fabled event made or broke their careers. Filmmakers have always been willing participants in the process, from concert movies to intimate documentaries to glossy biopics. We crave the results, because the myth-weaving is collaborative. And sometimes it involves bending reality a bit to get a better story. Nominally,…

A Joyfully Chaotic Tribute to Pavement in “Pavements”

Richard Brody reviews the film “Pavements,” directed by Alex Ross Perry, about the band Pavement.

‘Pavements’ Review: Alex Ross Perry’s Slacker Music Portrait Puts a Sweet, Meta Spin on the Rock Doc

Editor’s Note: This review was originally published during the 2024 Venice Film Festival. Utopia releases “Pavements” in select theaters Friday, May 2, 2025. The question Alex Ross Perry asked himself before embarking on the mad, four-faced project that is “Pavements” was: “What if Pavement was the most important band of all time?” It’s a fun idea, and Perry’s commitment to the bit cannot be questioned. An off-Broadway jukebox musical named afte…

“It’s a Three-Sided Movie”: Alex Ross Perry and Robert Greene on Pavements, Lifelong Music Geekery, and Val Kilmer

On the basis of the following interview, if you’re going to speak to a director, perhaps ask for the lead editor to join them. Fitting for a film largely about the collective interplay of a great rock band, Alex Ross Perry and Robert Greene, the respective director and editor of Pavements, brought out the best in one another during my chat at last year’s Venice Film Festival––perhaps they alternated as the Bob Nastanovich-esque, cowbell-playing …