Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields
Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields Image
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Metascore
66 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 18 Critics What's this?

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

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 18
  3. Negative: 0 out of 18
  1. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Noel Murray
    Oct 28, 2010
    83
    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.
  2. Movieline
    Reviewed by: Stephanie Zacharek
    Oct 26, 2010
    80
    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.
  3. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    Dec 11, 2010
    80
    Clearly, the directors have to be Merritt advocates to hang in there that long, but the film that resulted has elements that keep it from being simply a fan's notes.
  4. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    Oct 25, 2010
    60
    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.

See all 18 Critic Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 3
  3. Negative: 1 out of 3
  1. Kaasbraden
    10
    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 b    athos, 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
  2. DKaasbraden
    5
    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.… Expand
  3. DavidKaasbraden
    0
    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.… Expand

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