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PRESS

“Enlightening!”
-Chuck Wilson, LA Weekly 

“The sneaky, cockeyed tunesmithing of Stephin Merritt, the mind behind cult favorite the Magnetic Fields, finally receives a filmic examination in the well-crafted Strange Powers.”
-Robert Koehler, Variety 

“I was introduced to The Magnetic Fields by a friend in New York and the more time I spent with the music the more I got to think this is really one of America's great songwriters at work.”
-Peter Gabriel, musician 

“The joy of the songs is they make no concession to the stupid. And they make no concession to the ignorant. And that could well be perceived as making them inaccessible.  On the other hand, they're deeply honest and were created by somebody who loved Abba and the Bay City Rollers. There is nothing elitist.”
-Neil Gaiman, author

“Right after 9/11, Comedy Central was doing a roast of Hugh Hefner.  I didn't want to go, because I didn't want to fly.  [On the plane], I saw this guy across the aisle with headphones on and I asked him what he was listening to, which was the Magnetic Fields.  He let me listen to it and I never gave it back. It was one of those rare moments when you fall in love right away. I loved it so much. I bought it immediately upon landing.”
-Sarah Silverman, Comedian

“In the last 10 years, one key film has become the archetype of great musical movies – Wilco’s Am Trying To Break Your Heart, and Kerthy Fix and Gail O’Hara’s Strange Powers comes as close as humanly possible to that level of greatness.”
-Elliott Pen, Toronto Film Scene 

“Filled with grit and honesty, Strange Powers lulls watchers into submission exactly as Merritt’s songs do: sweetly and smartly.”
-Billy Manes, Orlando Weekly 

“There’s no doubt that Magnetic Fields’ Stephin Merritt is one of indie rock’s most mysterious figures. For somebody so prolific, Merritt has always been slightly misanthropic and a notoriously difficult interview subject. But now, the world is about to gain access to the artist’s eccentric, secretive world.”
-Stephen Carlick, exclaim.ca

“If you don't know who Stephin Merritt is, please get acquainted. This documentary follows Merritt, one of the most brilliant songwriters of the past generation, and looks at a side of him his fans have never seen before.”
-Mike Byhoff, Gawker.TV

“What comes across the most in the film is how much Stephin Merritt and Claudia Gonson need and work off each other.  For all of Mr. Merritt’s dark charm, Claudia Gonson is sweetness and light… It’s a genuine and loving friendship that is fun to watch play out on screen, even when they are bickering.  It made me want to call my best friend and hang out.”
-Marie Carney, Spinning Platters blog

“The film’s actually a study of a successful creative marriage, with Claudia Gonson serving as Merritt’s collaborator, mother hen, and best-friend-forever since high school. Looking at their ’80s teen memorabilia, you get the sense that Andie and Duckie from “Pretty in Pink’’ made it into the new millennium, and all Duckie had to do was come out of the closet.”
-Ty Burr, The Boston Globe