Magnetic Personality

In many ways, you could consider the Magnetic Fields' Stephin Merritt the Woody Allen of indie rock, a distinctly Big Apple auteur with a wry sense of humor and a neurotic outlook on love. In stark opposition to Allen’s garish personal life, however, the tabloid headlines on Merritt are pretty...

By Jef Otte

December 2, 2010

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In many ways, you could consider the Magnetic Fields' Stephin Merritt the Woody Allen of indie rock, a distinctly Big Apple auteur with a wry sense of humor and a neurotic outlook on love. In stark opposition to Allen’s garish personal life, however, the tabloid headlines on Merritt are pretty much non-existent. He’s intensely private, which makes the idea of the documentary, Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields, that much more fascinating.

“Basically, the filmmakers” -- Kerty Fix and Gail O’Hara -- “hung out with Merritt and the Magnetic Fields over the course of, like, ten years,” says Keith Garcia, programming manager for the Denver Film Society, which is screening the film. “It sort of opens the clamshell of who Stephin Merritt is, and it’s really charming and intimate and funny.” Of course, Merritt has escaped sensationalist media attention at least in part because, well, he doesn’t really do much that is sensational; this is no dramatic Behind the Music rise-and-fall story. What it is, says Garcia, is "really intimate. It's just a treasure trove for fans."

The film’s run starts today at the Denver FilmCenter/Colfax, 2510 East Colfax Avenue, and continues through December 9; tickets run $9.75, or $7 for DFS members. For showtimes or more information, call 303-595-3456 or visit www.denverfilm.org.
Fri., Dec. 3, 2010

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