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Casule summary: Strange Powers
‘Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields’
Fans of Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields will probably enjoy this chronicle of the lauded singer/songwriter’s career, which traces the band’s origins back to 1980s Boston, but it might be a tough 85 minutes for anyone else.
Directors Kerthy Fix and Gail O’Hara worked on “Strange Powers” for 10 years, a very long time for a film in which not much happens. Merritt doesn’t seem to like the attention, and says as much on camera. More outgoing band member Claudia Gonson keeps the narrative moving along, but the relative stability of everyone involved doesn’t make for a very interesting viewing.
The climax of the film hinges on an episode during the mid-2000s when New Yorker music critic Sasha Frere-Jones accussed Merritt of racism for not including enough black artists on a “best of” list Merritt had written years earlier.
Frere-Jones expresses regret to the filmmakers, though, deflating most of the controversy. Aside from clips of band at work and testimony by Peter Gabriel, Sarah Silverman (?) and others, the most compelling moments are live concert footage.
Screenings: 7:15 p.m. Monday, March 15, Alamo South; 2:30 p.m. Thursday March 18, Alamo Ritz; 7:45 p.m. Saturday, March 20, Alamo Ritz.
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