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Patrick James Alverson Jr. (born June 25, 1971) is an American film director, screenwriter and musician, living in Richmond, Virginia. His films have been characterized by their confrontational nature and unconventional dramatic structure.
The Comedy (2012), a departure from the subtle form and subject matter of Alverson’s previous films, starred cult-comic Tim Heidecker in his first dramatic role. The film’s subject matter and refusal to cast moral judgment on its characters were considered controversial. It examined the flawed idea of an attainable American utopia, a concept recurrent throughout Alverson’s work. Heidecker played Swanson, an upper-class, white male confrontationally attempting to define the limitations of the world around him. The third film to be executive produced and funded by the independent record label Jagjaguwar , The Comedy premiered in U.S. dramatic competition at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.
His fourth feature, Entertainment (2015), starring Gregg Turkington, also cast comedic actors in a dramatic context, exploring the relationship between viewership and performance. Both formally and visually his most ambitious to date, the film garnered high praise from critics upon its U.S. premiere at Sundance. It premiered in international competition at the Locarno Film Festival. The Guardian called it “a road trip to the center of a harrowing abyss.” Magnolia Pictures released Entertainment in November 2015 to further critical praise.
In 2017, Alverson directed and edited a short film entitled William Eggleston: Musik in support of the photographer's first collection of musical compositions.
Alverson's fifth feature, The Mountain (2018), premiered in competition at the 75th Venice International Film Festival. Set in early 1950s America, the film stars Tye Sheridan, Jeff Goldblum, Hannah Gross, Udo Kier and Denis Lavant and is loosely based on the American neurologist Walter Freeman's fall from grace after the procedure he invented, the lobotomy, came under scrutiny. Referring to the film as "anti-utopian", Alverson has described it as a "counterweight" to the American "narrative of unlimited potential and boundless opportunity" in favor of an emphasis on the value of limitations.
Alverson's frequent collaborators include Colm O'Leary, Tim Heidecker, Gregg Turkington, and Tye Sheridan.
| 2010 | The Builder | Also cinematographer | |||||
| 2011 | New Jerusalem | Also cinematographer | |||||
| 2012 | The Comedy | ||||||
| 2015 | Entertainment | ||||||
| 2017 | William Eggleston: Musik | Short film | |||||
| 2018 | The Mountain | ||||||
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