Pavements - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

According to the opening text of Pavements, the band Pavement broke up in 1999, and it wasn’t a big deal. They got together again for a reunion show in 2022, and it was a huge deal. The timeline of Pavements concerns four huge things for the band all occurring at the same time: A reunion show, a musical inspired by the band’s music, the creation of a touring museum dedicated to the band, and a big-budget biopic being made about them. Alex Ross Perry combines fact and fiction in his quasi-documentary/biopic/making-of a fictional film about the band. This is simultaneously authentic to Pavement’s goofiness as a band and also creates a sort of “larger than life” angle to them, too, which is an angle I appreciate because Pavement is a funny band for this kind of mythmaking treatment. I suppose it makes sense, in a way, because why not?

At any given time, you’re never quite sure if what you’re seeing is real or if it was created for the movie. I mean, I can probably take a wild guess that the ongoing subplot with Joe Keery (of Stranger Things) going through such lengths to mimic frontman Stephen Malkmus is fiction. He requests photos of the musician’s tongue to better replicate his speech rhythms, and eventually gets lost in the role, unable to speak like himself any longer, spoofing Austin Butler’s portrayal of Elvis Presley. Other times, you’re not quite sure if the documentary footage you’re watching is sincerely documenting the band’s past or if it’s an elaborate psyche-out.

I love all of this, in theory. I love the idea of the band’s history (and their future, for that matter) being up in the air, and up for debate. Defined as a “semiotic experiment,” facts themselves are never clearly defined. My issue with Pavements, as a whole, is that it’s quite boring, and at two hours and eight minutes, this took a lot to get through. The way Pavements attempted to subvert every single aspect of every known guideline we have for storytelling and filmmaking, I’m sure it’ll be explained that the boredom was a part of it, that it's a feature, not a bug, and that I’m a philistine for not understanding it.

Your reaction to Pavements, I believe, will depend a lot on your enthusiasm for Pavement as a musical act. If you absolutely adored their music, bought their CDs back in the day, pored over their lyrics in the liner notes, you’re going to love seeing a movie that treats their history with as much silliness as they treat themselves. It’s an unserious, sarcastic look at the band, and there’s a charm to it. If you’re not a fan of Pavement, or if you’re simply a casual fan, you’re probably going to be bored to death by the film’s commitment to rewriting the rules of filmmaking on the fly. It’s awkward and disjointed, jumping from one thing to the next with little to no context on how we arrived there, and while I appreciate the intentional nature of how this information is conveyed, it didn’t exactly make it a pleasant viewing experience.

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
Utopia and OCN Distribution unleash Pavements in a two-disc set, containing the film in both 4K UHD and 1080p high-definition. The discs are housed in a standard case, with reversible cover art. Both sides of the cover art are remarkably similar, opting for different colorings—one is primarily red, the other is primarily white. Inside the case is a booklet containing artwork, interviews, screenplay notes,  and so on.

Pavements was cobbled together from multiple sources throughout the decades, including vintage video and film, as well as newly recorded footage specifically for this film. Every visual source looks as good as it possibly can. Modern concert footage, presented/shot in 4K, graded in HDR, looks fantastic, with multi-colored concert lighting silhouetting the band in a sea of pitch-black darkness. Older video sources appear to be upscaled nicely without an overt pixelation, and some 8mm/16mm footage bubbles and dances with a healthy layer of film grain.

This is a concert film, after all, so I should expect nothing less of the excellent audio performance from Pavements’ 5.1 DTS-HD MA mix. Much of the film is people talking, whether it’s an archival interview or a newly recorded one, with priority given to dialogue clarity. But when music plays, either through a needle-drop on the band’s discography, or a live performance, it encompasses the entirety of the soundstage, playing through the fronts, rears, and subwoofer, enveloping the listener like a warm hug.

Viewers can’t ask for much more from these special features: Audio commentary, extended musical footage, deleted scenes… hours’ worth of additional material.

4K UHD Disc

• Audio Commentary - Alex Ross Perry and editor/producer Robert Greene

Blu-ray Disc

• Audio Commentary - Alex Ross Perry and editor/producer Robert Greene
• Interview (HD 28:07) - Alex Ross Perry, producer/editor Robert Greene, and members of the band Pavement, moderated by NYFF artistic director Dennis Lim
• Interview (HD 2:11) – Stephen Malmus, interviewed by Thurston Moore

Rehearsals and Live Performances

• Portland Sessions (HD 24:20)
• L.A. Sessions (HD 15:30)
• Day of the First L.A. Show (HD 6:43)
• “Grounded” Live at the Pavement Museum (HD 4:51)

Slanted! Enchanted! A Pavement Musical

• Day One (HD 10:02)
• Finding the Story (HD 3:03)
• Rehearsing “Cut Your Hair” (HD 3:15)
• Rehearsing “Spit on a Stranger” (HD 3:16)

Range Life: A Pavement Story

• Teaser (HD 1:50)
• “The Office” Full Scene (HD 4:16)
• “Radio Show” Full Scene (HD 4:09)
• Deleted Scenes (HD 8:00)
• Table Read (HD 15:00)

At the end of the day, as a film, Pavements was a bit of a disappointment to me. It was a lot of interesting ideas that didn’t really come together. It was ambitious, and I admired the film for it, but making my way through it was a struggle. Still, it boasts a lot of excellent technical specs, as a product: The video looks terrific, it sounds awesome, and it’s supported by a ton of amazing special features. Overall, Pavements on 4K UHD Blu-ray is going to be For Fans Only. 

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