To try to put “The Nowhere Inn” in a simple genre box is a difficult thing. It’s part mockumentary, part drama, part comedy, part character study, part rock biopic. It’s a lot of different things, all wrapped up in a St. Vincent package.
As seen in the trailer for “The Nowhere Inn,” the film is a meta-story about what happened when Carrie Brownstein teamed up with musician St. Vincent to make a documentary about the latter’s life and career. Of course, that documentary is all part of the gag to tell the greater story about how the “film” fell apart and showcased a previously unseen side to the enigmatic rock star. It’s an exciting take on the rock doc, mixing parts of real-life with intended satire.
The meta feature stars St. Vincent (aka Annie Clark), Carrie Brownstein, and Dakota Johnson. “The Nowhere Inn” is directed by Bill Benz, who has previously worked with both St. Vincent and Brownstein. The former teamed up with Benz on a music video for “Down,” while the latter worked with the filmmaker quite extensively on the hit IFC series, “Portlandia.”
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We were able to catch the film as part of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. In our review, we said, “For all the self-critical, broad unlikeability that Clark is willing to play up, this Russian doll approach to truth and fiction actually feels like a defensive move, a way for her to flirt with self-awareness and self-analysis without actually ever being vulnerable.”
“The Nowhere Inn” is set to arrive in theaters and on VOD on September 17. You can watch the trailer below.
Here’s the synopsis:
From real-life friends, Annie Clark (a.k.a. GRAMMY award-winning recording and touring artist St. Vincent) and Carrie Brownstein (Portlandia, Sleater-Kinney) comes the metafictional account of two creative forces banding together to make a documentary about St. Vincent’s music, touring life, and on-stage persona. But they quickly discover unpredictable forces lurking within subject and filmmaker that threaten to derail the friendship, the project, and the duo’s creative lives.
