THE NOWHERE INN (2021) 

The plot of The Nowhere Inn is very meta, to the point of even losing track of what it’s trying to say. St. Vincent hires Brownstein to direct a documentary about her life as an artist. But it turns out that St. Vincent’s persona off stage is, quite frankly, boring. Brownstein struggles to find things to film and even St. Vincent’s band mates can’t seem to come up with any interesting facts about the artist. Brownstein complains about this to St. Vincent, which causes her to spiral into self-doubt. She then transitions into being St. Vincent off stage as well as on stage. She becomes a diva who speaks her mind and acts odd at all times. This causes a rift between her and Brownstein as Brownstein struggles with her own issues and feels like she is losing a friend. The beginning seems like it might be a mockumentary, which could have been very fun to see Brownstein and St. Vincent play off each other. But then The Nowhere Inn drifts into another dimension entirely and goes into another layer of meta where you aren’t sure what each person is doing and how they are perceiving the documentary they’re knowingly in. It was a fun angle that definitely differed from typical music docs, but it didn’t quite hit as well as I would have liked.

ACTING | CHARACTERS | DIALOGUE:

St. Vincent and Carrie Brownstein carry much of the movie. It centers on St. Vincent of course but has a few moments with Brownstein worrying about her career and being confused as to what’s happening to her friend. St. Vincent does extremely well here, becoming a nerdy version of herself and then transitioning into the more compelling persona she has developed for on stage performances. She proves she has acting chops and I’d be interested to see her in another movie where she doesn’t necessarily play herself. Carrie is reliable as usual but gets overshadowed alongside St. Vincent. The acting carries much of the movie and challenges the idea that music documentaries are ever authentic.