Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields

Name: Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields
Genre: Music, Documentary
Released: October 27, 2010
Duration: 89 min
Rating: 66

2010

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Generally favorable reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews

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Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt And The Magnetic Fields

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Movie Details & Credits

Variance Films | Release Date: October 27, 2010

Summary: Strange Powers is an intimate portrait of songwriter Stephin Merrit and his band, the Magnetic Fields. (Variance Films)

Director: Gail O'Hara and Kerthy Fix

Genre(s): Music, Documentary

Runtime: 89 min

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Critic Reviews

Noel Murray

Oct 28, 2010

Most fan-docs are fairly remedial, but Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt And The Magnetic Fields is more sophisticated than the norm, in keeping with its subject. Read full review

Movieline Stephanie Zacharek

Oct 26, 2010

A smart, sophisticated songsmith in the tradition of Cole Porter, or an inscrutable, pretentious twit? In the course of his near-20-year career, Stephin Merritt - the sort-of frontperson for the indie-rock collective Magnetic Fields - has been considered both. Read full review

Walter Addiego

Dec 11, 2010

Overall, this is a nice introduction to an amiably dour tunesmith who once wrote that "all art aspires to the condition of Top 40 bubblegum pop." Read full review

Eric Hynes

Oct 26, 2010

Yet that dissonance is also what makes Strange Powers, a 10-years-in-the-making record of Merritt and his Magnetic Fields bandmates, so intriguing. Read full review

Lisa Schwarzbaum

Oct 27, 2010

The affectionate, bemused, structurally unkempt portrait is at its best capturing Merritt's close collaboration with his longtime friend and bandmate Claudia Gonson. Read full review

David Edelstein

Oct 25, 2010

As in his pithy, tuneful songs-many written from different perspectives, in different styles-Merritt is committed to stylizing his misery instead of boring you with it. Read full review

David Fear

Oct 26, 2010

Strange Powers works best when inadvertently capturing the toll of living in the shadow of a genius. When it comes to examining the genius himself, it's woefully out of tune. Read full review

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User Reviews

Kaasbraden

Oct 27, 2010

10 out of 10.
I have never seen a movie like this before, from the first scenes, which sizzle with authenticity, to the last, dripping with bathos, this film amazed me. Ostensibly a biopic about a semi-successful musician named Stephen Merritt, it traverses the range of human experience,10 out of 10.
I have never seen a movie like this before, from the first scenes, which sizzle with authenticity, to the last, dripping with bathos, this film amazed me. Ostensibly a biopic about a semi-successful musician named Stephen Merritt, it traverses the range of human experience, from the expectant wonder of youth to the dashed hopes of middle age.
It captures the rock milieu so convincingly, it plays like a documentary. I see a lot of movies, so many that sometimes I'm not sure of the titles or subject matter a day later, but I will never forget this one.… Expand

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DKaasbraden

Oct 27, 2010

I wasn't too impressed with this one. It's just not original enough. It reminds me of another movie - the name of which escapes me right now - which dealt with a similar subject (musician's life story) but that one was much better. See this only if you really love rock music.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

DavidKaasbraden

Oct 27, 2010

Give it a miss. The sort of thing we've seen before. I've seen at least two other movies recently that dealt with almost exactly the same subject, but they were both much better than this. This would have been much better suited to the documentary format.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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