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Deep Dive: Pavements (2025)

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Pavements
Pavements is a 2024 American experimental musical biopic concert film directed by Alex Ross Perry. It combines scripted scenes with documentary footage of the indie band Pavement, along with a musical stage play that features songs from their discography. The film presents a semiotic experiment that intertwines a spoof biopic narrative with elements from the musical 'Slanted! Enchanted!', which tells the story of an aspiring musician named Essem and his romantic entanglements. The film premiered at the 81st Venice International Film Festival on September 4, 2024, and had a limited theatrical release starting May 2, 2025, in New York City. It incorporates a unique production aspect with the creation of a touring museum exhibit titled 'Pavements 1933-2022: A Pavement Museum', featuring both real and fabricated artifacts from the band's history. The film's production faced challenges, including Stephen Malkmus's initial reluctance to work with a documentary filmmaker and Joe Keery's method acting approach, which parodies Austin Butler's portrayal of Elvis.

Why Watch

  • •See Joe Keery's unique method acting as Stephen Malkmus.
  • •Find out about the touring museum exhibit on Pavement's history.
  • •Meet the ensemble cast of 'Slanted! Enchanted!'

Did You Know

•Pavements premiered at the Venice International Film Festival on September 4, 2024.
•The film was released in the US starting May 2, 2025.
•95% of 58 critics' reviews on Rotten Tomatoes are positive.
•The film has a Metacritic score of 76 out of 100 based on 21 critics.

Perfect For

Pavement fansMusical theater enthusiastsExperimental film lovers