Like the other rock biopic in this year’s festival (Eno), Alex Ross Perry’s Pavements subverts the traditional format and comes up with something that far more accurately reflects the famed alt-rock band, which came to prominence in the ’90s. The poster children for ironic detachment, the band clearly doesn’t take the process too seriously, but ends up coming up with something surprisingly endearing.

The film’s audacious structure juggles four separate narrative strands: the actual band preparing for its first concerts in 12 years; a (fake?) off-Broadway musical called Slanted! Enchanted!; a gallery show designed to look like the Whitney Museum; and a fake biopic called Range Life, that features actors playing the band, and Jason Schwartzman as the group’s bumbling manager.

Perry, who directed the feature Her Smell in 2018 but is predominantly a video director, clearly loves Pavement, going so far as to call them “the world’s most important and influential band.” Okay. Ultimately, his indirect approach pays off in capturing the band’s spirit, its restless experimentation, and its ever-glorious sense of humor. ~SM